6th of August 1945
At 8:15 AM on the 6th of August 1945… The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, causing devastating damage. Hundreds of people died an instant death showered with the flash of atomic rays. Hundreds more died a miserable death being caught underneath the rubble of collapsed buildings. There were hundreds of injured individuals, who did not make it. And the hundreds who somehow survived, but then died due to leukemia.
Millions fell victim.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was built with a desperate appeal for such a tragedy to never occur again. In 1996 the skeletal atomic bomb dome was designated a UNESCO World Heritage. An earnest appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of everlasting peace in the world is sent from the first atomic bomb tragedy in human history.
History through sightseeing in Hiroshima
To be Engraved in our Memory
The Atomic Bomb Dome was originally the Hiroshima prefectural Industrial Promotion Building. It stood only about 160 meters away from ground zero, and was hit with the heat rays from the nuclear blast, and though it completely burnt down, the center of the building miraculously survived the blast. All the employees in the building were killed instantly. The building itself is preserved as it was then, the Atomic Bomb Dome to remind us of the destruction the nuclear weapon had caused.
In the museum lay the relics of the deceased and displays of pictures of the disaster drawn by Hiroshima citizens. These pictures show the truth and reality only people who have actually experienced the atomic bomb can convey. For people who cannot visit Hiroshima so easily, you can visit the virtual museum via the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum homepage. We urge you to see the displays and exhibitions, and contemplate on one of the biggest tragedies of human history, ”the atomic bomb”.
