Materializing the Bible
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      • Holy Land replicas, Noah's Arks, and More
      • Catholic Grottoes & Shrines
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      • Nazareth Village
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      • The Sorrowful Mother Shrine
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      • Cabazon Dinosaurs
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Picture1950s image from Callaway's Garden of Eden (Bristol, Florida). Photo courtesy of State Library and Archives of Florida.





The history of materializing the Bible has its stories of closed chapters, never realized visions, rumored openings, and coming soon attractions. 
​


Closed (N=58)
  • Mechanized Passion Play (Valenciennes, France), 1547
  • Palestine Park & Jerusalem Miniature (Round Lake, New York), c.1875-1880
  • Jerusalem model (Ocean Grove, New Jersey), 1879-1959
  • Holy House of Loreto replica (Montreal, Quebec), 1894-?
  • Cyclorama of Jerusalem on the Day of the Crucifixion (St. Anne-de-Beaupre, Quebec), 1895-2018
  • Jerusalem Old City at World's Fair (St. Louis, Missouri), 1904
  • Creation exhibit (St. Louis, Missouri; Coney Island, New York), 1904-1911
  • Gauci Brothers Holy Land miniature (traveling; based in Edmonton, Canada), 1925-1962
  • Solomon's Temple at the Century of Progress World's Fair (Chicago, IL), 1933
  • Musee Historique Canadien (Montreal, Quebec), 1935-1989
  • Jerusalem replica (Texas Centennial Exposition; Dallas), 1936
  • Black Hills Passion Play (Spearfish, South Dakota), 1939-2008
  • Tabernacle replica (St. Petersburg, Florida), 1948-1970
  • Lund's Scenic Garden (Maple City, Michigan), 1948-1987
  • Garden of Gethsemane replica (Los Angeles, California), c.1950
  • Jerusalem model (Wappinger Falls, New York), c.1950
  • Bible Land (Orlando, Florida), c.1950-1970
  • Bob Jones biblical art museum (Greenville, South Carolina), 1951-2017
  • Museum of Woodcarving (Spooner, Wisconsin), 1951-2020 (relocated to BibleWalk in Mansfield, Ohio)
  • Garden of Eden (Bristol, Florida), 1952-1981
  • Drive-Thru Bible Garden (Woodville, Georgia), 1954-1997
  • Prince of Peace Memorial Park (Silver Springs, Florida; Gettysburg, PA; Henderson, TN), c.1955-68; 1968-84; 1984-?
  • Bible Land (Calimesa, California), 1957-c.1990
  • Bible History Wax Museum (Washington, D.C.), 1958-1982
  • Christus Gardens (Gatlinburg, Tennessee), 1960-2008
  • Book of Job (Pineville, Kentucky), c.1960-1977
  • Biblical Gardens (Wisconsin Dells), 1961-1997
  • The Holy Land Pavilion (New York, New York), 1964-1965
  • Biblical and Historical Wax Museum (Salt Lake City, Utah), c.1965
  • Museum of the Cross (Sarasota, Florida), 1966-1969
  • King of Kings (St. Petersburg, Florida), 1968-1998
  • Holy Land Museum and Library (New York, New York), 1970-c.1990
  • Space View (Madison, Georgia), c.1970-?
  • Holy Land USA (Bedford, Virginia), 1972-2009
  • Bible garden at San Francisco Botanical Garden (San Francisco, California), 1975-c.1990
  • Black Hills Holy Land (Custer, South Dakota), c.1975
  • The Gallery of Creation: A Museum of Natural History (Social Circle, Georgia), 1978-2010
  • Heritage USA (Fort Mill, South Carolina), 1978-1989
  • Life of Christ Display (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), c.1980-2017
  • Jesus of Nazareth Passion Play (Puyallup, Washington), 1982-2007
  • Stiftung Lebendige Vorwelt (Hagen, Germany), 1983-2012
  • Golgotha Fun Park (Cave City, Kentucky), 1992-2002
  • The Promise (Branson, Missouri), 1995-2002; 2006-2010
  • Trinity Via Dolorosa (Costa Mesa, California), 1999-2017
  • Trinity Via Dolorosa (Hendersonville, Tennessee), closed 2017
  • Trinity Via Dolorosa (Irving, Texas), 2000-2017
  • Noah's Ark Biblical History Museum (Winston, Oregon), 2000-2017
  • Museum of Religious Arts (Logan, Iowa), 2000-2016
  • Museum of Biblical Art (New York, New York), 2005-2015
  • King's City (Eliat, Israel), 2005-2015
  • Museu Vida de Cristo (Fatima, Portugal), 2007-2017
  • Songdo Bible Park (Songdo, South Korea), 2010
  • Creation Store (Pensacola, Florida), online only as of 2016
  • Covenant Gardens (Eureka Springs, Arkansas), date unknown
  • Episcopal Biblical Garden (Mount Dora, Florida), date unknown
  • Bellevue Biblical Gardens (Daytona Beach, Florida), date unknown
  • Creation Orlando (Orlando, Florida), closed 2016
  • Holy Land Experience (Orlando, Florida), 2001-2021
​
Never Was (N=10)
  • Bible Park U.S.A. (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
  • Bible Story Land (Cucamonga, California)
  • Holy Land at Ghost Town in the Sky (Maggie Valley, North Carolina)
  • Biblical garden and Holy Land replicas (Anaheim, California)
  • Holy Land, USA (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania)
  • Exploration Science Center (Port Jervis, New York)
  • Bible City (near Springfield, Missouri)
  • Jerusalem Temple replica (Cape Canaveral, Florida)
  • Biblelands (near Cambridge, Ohio)
  • Bible theme park (Canterbury, England)
 
Coming soon? (N=21)
  • Jewish Museum Berlin Children's Museum (Berlin, Germany)
  • Trek Thru Truth (Cleveland, Tennessee)
  • Northwest Science Museum (Boise, Idaho)
  • Biblical Theme Park (Moose Jaw, Canada)
  • Bible Museum (Bayern, Germany)
  • Land of Genesis (Switzerland)
  • God's Ark of Safety (Frostburg, Maryland)
  • Museum of Biblical Antiquities (Salt Lake City/Provo, Utah)
  • Biblical Garden (Hebron, West Bank)
  • Greater Ancestors World Museum (Jacksonville, Florida)
  • ​The Bible Ship (Germany)
  • Creation Research of the North Coast museum (Bayside, California)
  • Lost World Museum (Phoenix, New York)
  • Re-created biblical Jerusalem (near Colorado Springs, Colorado)
  • Museum of Biblical Archaeology (Ripon, California)
  • Abrahamic Botanic Garden (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
  • Genesis Park (New Hampshire)
  • Bible museum at National Cathedral (Accra, Ghana)
  • Bible History Museum (Greenville, Texas)
  • Museum of Archaeological and Biblical History (TBA)
  • Holy Land Park (Branson, MO)

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