Germany's Biblical Theme Park

BERLIN
If you ever fancied lunch in the Tower of Babel, visiting an "original size" Noah's Ark or a multimedia depiction of the final battle between Good and Evil, you may not have long to wait. Under plans announced by a group of Swiss evangelical Christians and reported by the German press, Genesis Park, a theme park based on the Bible, will open at a yet to be chosen site in Germany by 2012.

It will group some 40 attractions over an area the size of 70 football pitches encompassing all areas of the Christian story, according to the organisers' website. The centrepiece will be what the organisers call an "original size" Noah's Ark which is 150 metres (490 feet) long and surrounded by water. Other attractions will include two roller coasters -- one giving an idea of the Great Flood and another on the theme of heaven and hell -- a miniature version of Biblical-era Israel and a Roman amphitheatre. Visitors will be served food at the City of Enoch, a Tower of Babel panorama restaurant, an Old Testament-era desert tent, and a mock-up of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus -- also the location for the main shopping mall.

"We would like to transmit the story and the message of the Bible in an active and exciting way, so that many people in our society may have the opportunity to experience up close the most wonderful and fantastic love story of all, the love story of our Creator and Jesus Christ," the website said. The project is well short of the necessary 120 million euros (185 million dollars), but organisers are talking with German investors and hope to raise enough by the end of the year, according to the Frankfurter Rundschau daily.

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