WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Ark Encounter in Williamstown has ridden out the COVID-19 pandemic storm, and now, it plans to expand.
The pandemic forced a three-month shutdown and reduced attendance in 2020, but the attraction is still afloat.
“Interesting thing is our post-pandemic numbers are better than our pre-pandemic numbers, and that's without all the bus tours,” said Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, which runs the attraction.
Ham said now plans are in place to add a Tower of Babel.
“The Tower of Babel was an event in the Bible after the flood, where man rebelled against God, and God gave different languages,” Ham said. “So people spread out across the earth forming different cultural groups or ethnic groups.”
Ham said the aim is to tackle the issue of racism by showing how everyone developed from a common ancestor.
Artist rendering of planned Tower of Babel attraction at the Ark Encounter
“Even in the secular scientific literature, they've been saying for years there's only one race, and the differences on the outside are minor," Ham said. "The major differences are cultural, and the Bible's history explains those cultural differences.”
Ham believes the new attraction can help bridge those differences
“The real person is on the inside, and we need to be teaching people that,” he said. “We want them to understand we're all one family. We're all related.”
The Ark Encounter is also planning to add its version of the Jerusalem wall as well as a massive indoor scale model of the ancient city.
“That will be the biggest indoor model of first-century Jerusalem we believe in America, probably the world,” Ham said.
Ham also wants to build a replica of Solomon’s Temple as described in the Bible.
“What we’re doing is helping people understand the Biblical history and making it come alive for them," he said.
The Ark Encounter is launching a campaign to raise $30 million to fund the projects, which it hopes to open in three years.
“We're not short on vision,” Ham said. “We just keep moving ahead and people are pouring in.”
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