Atomic Bomb Dome (Former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall)

In December 1996, at the 20th UNESCO World Heritage Committee Meeting in Mérida, it was registered as a World Heritage Site as a building that conveys the devastation of nuclear weapons. The designated area is the area where the Atomic Bomb Dome is located, approximately 0.39 hectares. The Atomic Bomb Dome was built in 1915 as a facility for displaying and selling products from Hiroshima Prefecture, and also hosted Hiroshima Prefectural Art Exhibitions and Expositions. When it was first established, it was called the "Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall," but was later renamed the "Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Center," and in 1933, the "Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall." It was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel, and the structure was made of brick with some steel frames, with the exterior being made of stone and mortar. The building is three stories tall, with a five-story staircase in the center of the front, and an elliptical copper dome (long axis approximately 11m, short axis approximately 8m, height 4m) on top. At that time in Hiroshima, most of the buildings in the city center were two-story wooden structures, and these bold European-style buildings were very rare. Combined with the modern beauty reflected on the river surface, these buildings were counted as one of Hiroshima's famous landmarks. At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb in human history exploded about 160 meters southeast of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, at an altitude of about 600 meters. The blast pressure was 35 tons per square meter, and the wind speed was 440 meters. The building was hit by the blast and heat rays, and was completely destroyed, with fire spewing from the ceiling. As the blast acted almost vertically, the center of the main building miraculously escaped collapse, but everyone inside the building was killed instantly. After the war, the remains of the former Industrial Promotion Hall came to be called the Atomic Bomb Dome by local residents because of the dome on the top and the shape of the steel frame. In 1953, Hiroshima Prefecture transferred the Atomic Bomb Dome to Hiroshima City, and in July 1966, the Hiroshima City Council passed a resolution to preserve the Atomic Bomb Dome. Since then, the building has deteriorated, and four large-scale preservation works have been carried out with the help of donations from both within and outside of Japan. In addition, as a result of a wide range of citizen movements, including the city, city council, and citizens, it was designated a national historic site in June 1995, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs applied to UNESCO for registration on the World Heritage List. In December 1996, it was registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site. Today, the remains of the devastation at the time of the bombing serve as a symbol of No More Hiroshima, and a timeless symbol of the importance of the abolition of nuclear weapons and permanent peace to the world. Please note that you cannot enter the Atomic Bomb Dome. It is not a facility that you can enter, so you can only view it from the outside.