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“This boat — it’s amazing,” said Alfred Jongile, visiting from South Africa with his Dutch wife.

For Huibers, a builder by trade, it all began with a nightmare he had in 1992, when the low-lying Netherlands was flooded, as it has been many times throughout its history.

Huibers thinks that new floods are possible, not least due to global warming. He cites a New Testament passage prophesying that “the cities of the coast shall tremble” near the end of times.

But he’s not worried the whole Earth will ever be flooded again. In the Bible, the rainbow is God’s promise it won’t be.

“I had a call from American television,” he says, laughing. “This has nothing to do with the end of the Mayan calendar,” he said.

He said his motivation is ultimately religious, though. He wants to make people think what their purpose is on Earth.

“I want to make people question that so that they go looking for answers,” and ultimately find salvation through God and eternal life, he said.

Johan’s Ark also contains a restaurant on the topmost level and a movie theatre capable of seating 50 people. Around the edges of each level of the craft are displays on ancient Middle Eastern history and dress, scenes from the life of Noah, and games for kids, including water pumps and a system of levers to lift bales of hay.

Down below there is a honeycomb system of hatches, each opening into an area where food could be sealed in for long-term storage.

There is an outdoor space near the stern with a dizzying series of stairwells. Walking around, Johan points out features such as the curvature of the upper deck, which he said would have been used to collect rainwater for drinking, as well as for letting animals such as horses out to exercise where they could run around.