Hiroshima Peace Memorial, commonly called the Atomic Bomb Dome or A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima,
Japan, is part of the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and was designated a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1996. The ruin serves as a memorial to the people who were killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Over 70,000 people were killed instantly, and another 70,000 suffered fatal injuries from the radiation.
History
The building was designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel. It was completed in April 1915 and was named the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition (HMI). It was opened formally to the public in August that year. In 1921 the name was changed to the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall, and again in 1933, to the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The dome atop the building had an elliptical planform.
Preservation
The Hiroshima City Council declared in 1966 that it intended to indefinitely preserve the structure, now termed "A-Bomb Dome". The first popularly elected mayor of Hiroshima, Shinzo Hamai (1905 – 1968) sought funds for the preservation effort domestically and internationally. During one trip to
Tokyo, Hamai resorted to collecting funds directly on the streets of the capital. Preservation work on the A-Bomb Dome was completed in 1967, a year after Hamai's death. The A-Bomb Dome has undergone two minor preservation projects to stabilize the ruin.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
In December 1996 the A-Bomb Dome was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List based on the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
China had reservations regarding the confirmation of the memorial as a World Heritage Site and the delegate of the
United States to the World Heritage Committee dissociated himself from the decision.
China cited the possibility that the monument could be used to downplay the fact that the victim countries of Japan's aggression suffered the greatest losses of life during the war, while the United States asserted that having a memorial to a war site would omit the necessary historical context.
