The owner of a replica of  Noah’s Ark is trying to auction off the Bible-inspired entertainment centre but so far buyers have failed to make a bid.

The 122-metre-long ship, currently moored at Krimpen aan de IJssel, is one of two arks built by entrepreneur Johan Huibers whose inspiration came from a dream he had about a flood in Noord-Holland.

The first ark, no longer owned by Huibers, is some 70 metres long and has a checkered career of mishaps while on tour. It has since come to rest as a Bible Museum in Hasselt in Overijssel.

Huiber started work on the bigger ark in 2008, taking five years and €4 million to finish. Measuring 135 metres, it contains seven decks, a cinema, a restaurant and like its predecessor, wasn’t built for sailing.

The bigger ark debuted to the public in Dordrecht in 2012 and attracted 280,000 visitors over the next few years. It also participated in the city’s boat parade during the festivities of the 2015 Koningsdag, which were attended by the Dutch royal family.

But its early successes were short-lived. The downfall of the bigger ark is largely credited to its sheer girth. It’s even more difficult to move and dock than its predecessor and was forced to leave Dordrecht once work on a nearby housing project got underway in 2016.

Huibers hoped to transport the ark to Rio de Janeiro for the Summer Olympics that year but couldn’t find a ship powerful enough to pull it across the Atlantic. Other plans and schemes have come and gone and eventually, it was towed to what was originally intended to be a temporary location in Krimpen aan den IJssel.

Stuck in Krimpen aan de IJssel since 2016, Huibers has been looking for a buyer ever since. “There have been delegations from as far afield as South Korea, Houston, Istanbul and Israel. They were all interested but nothing came of it. And now I have had enough and I want rid of it,” he told the AD.

The Ark was put on auction site Troostwijk auctions this week with a starting bid of €350,000. Offers for the Ark have not been pouring in which may have something to do with the fact that prospective owners will have to find a place to put it. The auction closes on December 18.

Huibers is philosophical about how much the project has cost him. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that this has cost me a lot of money,”  he told the paper. “But if your hobby is to collect miniature trains and you want to get rid of them at some point you know you will never get back what you paid for them. That’s how I see this,” he said.

Huibers said he hoped a new owner would continue to use the Ark as a way to spread a message of faith, hope, love and perseverance. “If they want to turn it into a brothel I’m not selling”, he said.