Creation Museum

The Creation Museum is located in the U.S. state of Kentucky, not far from Cincinnati in the town of Petersburg. The institution was founded by the Christian fundamentalist organization Answers in Genesis and opened in 2007. Covering an area of roughly 5,000 square meters (about 54,000 square feet), the museum presents the worldview of young-Earth creationism. It was funded entirely through donations, with construction costs put at $27 million. Ground was first broken as early as 2001, which underscores the long preparation phase for this controversial project.

Inside the building, you experience a presentation of the biblical creation story, which holds that the Earth and the universe are only about 6,000 years old. Attractions include animated dinosaur figures as well as electronically controlled figures of Adam and Eve. The museum's central message is that God created all living things in a week lasting seven days and later used the Flood to wipe out everything except Noah's family and the animals on the ark. Even geological formations such as the Grand Canyon are explained as a result of this flood. The question of what became of the dinosaurs is answered by saying that they either died in the flood or survived as dragons into the recent past.

In addition to the museum, the organization has operated the Ark Encounter theme park since 2016, which also deals with the flood myth. On busy summer Saturdays, the Creation Museum draws more than 4,000 guests. The institution is controversial, however, because it rejects scientific findings from biology, geology, and astronomy. Numerous scientists and teachers protested its opening, as they consider the museum an institutionalization of false claims. In recent years, a decline in public interest and visitor numbers has also been reported.