Enough space for 500 people – or 1500 supermodels

The vessel will be opened to the public on Monday. Then Huibers plans to sail it across the sea and along the UK canal network to the London Olympics. Like Dr No in the James Bond film, he plans to live aboard his creation.

Huibers spent three years and more than £1 million constructing the gigantic wooden boat after having a dream in which part of his native Netherlands was flooded. The construction firm owner used measurements given in the Book of Genesis to build the 450ft-long ark.

The narrative of the ark, in which God commands Noah to prepare for a great flood sent to purge the world of evil, specifies that the boat was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.
Mr Huibers converted this ancient unit of measurement, which is based on the length of the forearm, to determine that his recreation had to be about 450ft long.
This puts the boat, which opens to the public on Monday and is nicknamed ‘Johan’s Ark’, at more than half the length of the Titanic.