Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Established	1955, remodeled 1991, renovated Peace Memorial Hall 1994
Location	1-2 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Director	Koichiro Maeda
Website	www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing that occurred with the additional aim of world peace. The museum was established in August 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall (now the International Conference Center Hiroshima). It is the most popular of Hiroshima's destinations for school field-trips from all over Japan and for international visitors. 53 million people had visited the museum from its opening in 1955 through 2005, averaging over one million visitors per year. The architect of the main building was Kenzo Tange.

Museum content

According to the introduction in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum's English guide: "The Peace Memorial Museum" collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombings and others that present the current status of the nuclear age. Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger, or pain of real people. Having now recovered from the A-bomb calamity, Hiroshima's deepest wish is the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realization of a genuinely peaceful international community."^[1]

To facilitate education, the museum was renovated in 1994 and is now divided into two sections.

The East Wing—the newest addition—explains the history of Hiroshima City before the bomb, development and decision to drop the bomb, the lives of Hiroshima citizens during World War II and after the bombing, and ends with information about the nuclear age and efforts for international peace. Included in this section is a model showing the damage done to the city. It has some important letters exchanged between scientists and top leaders of that era talking about atomic development and predicted result of its use.

The West Wing, which was part of the old museum, concentrates on the damage of the bomb. Sections include Material Witness, which shows clothing, watches, hair, and other personal effects worn by victims of the bomb; Damage by the Heat Rays, a section that looks at what happened to wood, stone, metal, glass, and flesh from the heat; Damage by the Blast, focusing on the destruction caused by the after shocks of the blast, and Damage by the Radiation which goes into details about the health effects suffered by humans.

Peace education programs

A-bomb survivor testimony
Video showings
Loan of Photo Posters and Videos
Peace Volunteer guide tour

Access

Hiroshima bus Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park bus stop
Hiroden Genbaku Dome-mae Station
Hiroden Chuden-mae Station
Astram Hondōri Station

Gallery

Scaled down model of Hiroshima City flattened after the explosion. The red ball depicts the explosion point.
A watch stopped at the time of the atomic bombing
The Main Building of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
The East Building of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum showing axis with cenotaph and A-bomb dome (1949)
Peace Watch