Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen Koen) is a memorial park
in the center of Hiroshima, Japan.
It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to
suffer a nuclear attack at the end of World War II, and to the memories of the
bomb's direct and indirect victims (of whom there may have been as many as
140,000).
The park is there in memory of the victims of the nuclear attack on August 6,
1945, in which the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city
of Hiroshima.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was planned and designed by the Japanese
Architect Kenzo Tange at Tange Lab.
The location of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was once the city’s busiest
downtown commercial and residential district. The park was built on an open
field that was created by the explosion.
The purpose of the Peace Memorial Park is not only to memorialize the victims
of the bombing, but also to perpetuate the memory of nuclear horrors and
advocate world peace.
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Aioi Bridge (T-Bridge).
Modern reconstruction of the T-shaped bridge that was the target point
of the 1945 atomic bomb.
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General view of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
In the foreground is the Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenotaph. Next is
the Flame of Peace. Then there is the Children's Peace Monument. In the
back plan is the Atomic Bomb Dome.
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Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenotaph.
Near the center of the park is a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that
covers a cenotaph holding the names of all of the people killed by the
bomb.
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The monument is aligned to frame the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome.
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The Memorial Cenotaph was one of the first memorial monuments built on
open field on August 6, 1952.
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The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.
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Flame of Peace.
The Flame of Peace is another monument to the victims of the bomb that
destroyed Hiroshima, but it has an additional symbolic purpose.
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The flame has burned continuously since it was lit in 1964, and will
remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are destroyed and the
planet is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation.
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Children's Peace Monument.
The Children's Peace Monument is a statue dedicated to the memory of the
children who died as a result of the bombing.
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The statue is of a girl with outstretched arms with a folded paper
crane rising above her.
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The statue is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl
who died from radiation from the bomb. She is known for folding over
1,000 paper cranes in response to a Japanese legend.
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To this day, people (mostly children) from around the world fold
cranes and send them to Hiroshima where they are placed near the
statue. The statue has a continuously replenished collection of folded
cranes nearby.
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See more at
Children's Peace Monument - Wikipedia.
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Atomic Bomb Dome.
The A-Bomb Dome is the skeletal ruins of the former Hiroshima
Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.
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It is the building closest to the hypocenter of the nuclear bomb that
remained at least partially standing.
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It was left as it was after the bombing in memory of the casualties.
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See more at
Hiroshima Peace Memorial - Wikipedia.
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Source
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