PilgrimstaysThe Book of Genesis comes to life at the Creation Museum, Kentucky One part scripture, one part fantasy the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY is a strange animal. Depicting the story of the creation on a colossal scale, the museum blends biblical narrative with an overdose of family-friendly attractions. Spread over an enormous 70,000 sq feet (with more acreage in the pipeline), the Creation Museum sticks to a literal portrayal of the Book of Genesis. In an interesting departure from the book, the museum has a fair sprinkling of dinosaur models and their reconstructed skeletal remains. Intending, no doubt, to engage audiences and stay relevant in modern times. It is an experiment that has met with resounding success as millions of visitors have made it to the museum ever since it opened in 2011. Located about 20 miles west of Cincinnati International Airport in neighbouring Ohio State, the museum is highly accessible from most US cities. A one-hour flight or an overnight drive away for two-thirds of the country, the museum attracts school groups and families in sizeable numbers. The tour of the museum is through a series of rooms arranged in an order that matches the flow of the story. Beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the museum depicts the original sin and the subsequent fall. Cain killing Abel is next followed by the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark and the aftermath of the re-creation. The museum uses a skilful combination of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), audio and visual elements to articulate its message to good effect. Completing the experience, the museum also has a 78 seat planetarium which presents a Biblical perspective of the creation. Its 200 seat theatre promises a spellbinding experience with seats that vibrate and jets that spray water for a near-realistic effect. The Creation Museum is also home to a 5-acre lake which adds a picturesque touch to its green ambience. Walking trails run through the property and add a fun element to the picnic-like atmosphere that pervades. A restaurant and medieval-themed gift shop round off the Creation experience. The Creation Museum is the first and relatively more modest project of Answers in Genesis, the promoters. AiG is an organisation that seeks to recreate biblical stories in a modern theme park format. Its second project is the extravagant Ark Encounter , a lavish reproduction of Noah’s Ark built to exact Biblical dimensions. The Encounter is located 43 miles to the south in Williamstown, Kentucky. Standing over five storeys in height and one and a half football fields in length, the Ark is a wood covered structure that has visitors gasp in disbelief at its dimensions. Although both the Museum and the Ark can be visited in a single day, it makes sense to reserve a day for each, considering the epic sizes they boast. Both the projects have met with criticism for disputing scientific fact with scriptural anecdote. If taken in the right spirit, the experience could awaken faith in the sceptical. None can deny, however, that the Museum and the Ark exploit large-format showmanship to the hilt. And in the process, provide their visitors with a Biblical experience that’s tasteful and engaging.
In an interesting departure from the book, the museum has a fair sprinkling of dinosaur models and their reconstructed skeletal remains
It is an experiment that has met with resounding success as millions of visitors have made it to the museum ever since it opened in 2011
Beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the museum depicts the original sin and the subsequent fall
The Creation Museum is the first and relatively more modest project of Answers in Genesis, the promoters
Its second project is the extravagant Ark Encounter , a lavish reproduction of Noah’s Ark built to exact Biblical dimensions
The museum's central narrative walk through the 7 C's — Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation — is the interpretive spine of the whole museum. The production design is genuinely impressive: each section has full-scale environments, sophisticated lighting, and detailed dioramas presenting the AiG reading of biblical and natural history.
The outdoor Dinosaur Garden — full-size model dinosaurs in a landscaped park setting — is both the most family-friendly attraction and the most visually arresting. The models are scientifically accurate representations of known dinosaur species, placed in a garden that supports the museum's claim that humans and dinosaurs coexisted. The garden is also simply a beautiful outdoor space.
The state-of-the-art digital planetarium presents shows on astronomy from a creationist perspective — arguing that the universe's complexity and fine-tuning point to a Creator. Whatever one's position on young-earth creationism, the planetarium shows are visually spectacular and the questions they raise about cosmology and purpose are genuinely interesting.
The Noah's Ark section — with a full-scale cross-section of the Ark's interior, animatronic figures of Noah's family, and detailed presentations on flood geology — is the centrepiece of the museum's geological argument. It is the most elaborately produced section and the one that most directly engages with mainstream geological science.
The museum grounds include botanical gardens, a petting zoo (with zorse and zonkey), walking trails, and the pleasant outdoor spaces of the Kentucky countryside. The grounds are well-maintained and make the visit a pleasant family day out even apart from the exhibitions.
The Creation Museum asks a real question: how do you read Genesis? The young-earth creationist answer is: literally, historically, as written. Most biblical scholars, including many evangelical ones, read Genesis differently — as theological narrative, as poetry, as a statement about who God is rather than a scientific account of how the earth was made. This disagreement is genuine, important, and centuries old. The museum is one side of a conversation that the Church has not finished having. It is worth engaging with seriously, whatever one concludes.
The Book of Genesis comes to life at the Creation Museum, Kentucky. One part scripture, one part fantasy, the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY, is a strange animal. Depicting the story of the creation on a colossal scale, the museum blends biblical narrative with an overdose of family-friendly attractions.
Spread over an enormous 70,000 square feet (with more acreage in the pipeline), the Creation Museum sticks to a literal portrayal of the Book of Genesis. In an interesting departure from the book, the museum has a fair sprinkling of dinosaur models and their reconstructed skeletal remains, intending no doubt to engage audiences and stay relevant in modern times. It is an experiment that has met with resounding success, as millions of visitors have made it to the museum ever since it opened in 2011.
Located about 20 miles west of Cincinnati International Airport in neighbouring Ohio, the museum is highly accessible from most US cities. A one-hour flight or an overnight drive away for two-thirds of the country, the museum attracts school groups and families in sizeable numbers.
The tour of the museum is through a series of rooms arranged in an order that matches the flow of the story. Beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the museum depicts the original sin and the subsequent fall. Cain killing Abel is next, followed by the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark and the aftermath of the re-creation. The museum uses a skilful combination of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), audio and visual elements to articulate its message to good effect.
Completing the experience, the museum also has a 78-seat planetarium, which presents a biblical perspective of the creation. Its 200-seat theatre promises a spellbinding experience, with seats that vibrate and jets that spray water for a near-realistic effect. The Creation Museum is also home to a 5-acre lake, which adds a picturesque touch to its green ambience. Walking trails run through the property and add a fun element to the picnic-like atmosphere that pervades. A restaurant and medieval-themed gift shop round off the Creation experience.
The Creation Museum is the first and relatively more modest project of Answers in Genesis, the promoters. AiG is an organisation that seeks to recreate biblical stories in a modern theme park format. Its second project is the extravagant Ark Encounter, a lavish reproduction of Noah’s Ark built to exact biblical dimensions. The Encounter is located 43 miles to the south in Williamstown, Kentucky. Standing over five storeys in height and one and a half football fields in length, the Ark is a wood-covered structure that has visitors gasping in disbelief at its dimensions.
Although both the museum and the Ark can be visited in a single day, it makes sense to reserve a day for each, considering the epic sizes they boast.
Both projects have met with criticism for disputing scientific fact with scriptural anecdote. If taken in the right spirit, the experience could awaken faith in the sceptical. None can deny, however, that the museum and the Ark exploit large-format showmanship to the hilt, and in the process provide their visitors with a biblical experience that is tasteful and engaging.
