A life-size replica of the Bible’s Noah’s Ark – larger than a football field and holding 5,000 people – will eventually dock in Southern California, the director of a Pasadena-based Christian foundation said Wednesday. Dutch carpenter Johan Huibers built the massive, five-floor ship four years ago in the Netherlands as a religious attraction and, in partnership with the Ark of Noah Foundation, is raising money to fund a world voyage.

The 410-foot, 2,500-ton facsimile is expected to travel by barge this summer 5,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Netherlands to Brazil, stopping afterward at ports in Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, according to Herald A.M.A. Janssen, the director of the foundation. “We cannot promise how long it will take, but we will come to California,” Janssen said. “You get the feeling that a lot of people and animals can fit on this boat.” FULL REPORT