Right at the periphery of the Heiwa Kinen Koen stands the Hiroshima Peace Memorial or the Genbaku Dome, which has come to be identified as the symbol of Hiroshima.
The Genbaku Dome was the only structure near the hypocenter that survived the catastrophe that struck Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and it remains in the same condition as it was right after the explosion, ostensibly to remind the world of the grim realities of nuclear warfare.
This building used to be the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Originally designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel, the design incorporated a distinctive dome at the highest part of the building. Construction was completed in 1915. The building was used for arts and educational exhibitions...
The building is located just 160 metres from the Hypocenter and since the explosion happened almost directly overhead, the building was able to retain its shape. The building's vertical columns were able to resist the nearly vertical downward force of the blast, and parts of the concrete and brick outer walls remained intact. Everyone inside the building was killed instantly...
Weathering and deterioration of the Dome continued after the war. The Hiroshima City Council declared in 1966 that it intended to indefinitely preserve the structure, and was renamed as the "Genbaku Dome" or the Atomic Dome. Preservation work on the Genbaku Dome was completed in 1967...
Today, the Genbaku Dome stands almost exactly as it did after the bombing on August 6, 1945. Changes to the ruins were the bare minimum, and were meant to ensure the stability of the structure, given that Japan is located in a zone of significant seismic activity...
In December 1996, the Genbaku Dome was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List based on its survival from a destructive force, the first use of nuclear weapons on a human population and its representation as a symbol of peace. Both China and the United States had reservations on this idea...
And today it serves as a grim reminder of what happened on that fateful day...
...and also symbolises a warning to humanity of what could happen if nations act irresponsibly!
Sarugaku-cho was one of the liveliest neighbourhoods in Hiroshima and was completely obliterated after the bombing...
The Zero Milestone of Hiroshima city...
At the Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students...
To make up for the labor shortage during the Second World War, Japan enacted a law that required students in middle school and higher grades to perform labour service. In Hiroshima, many students were required to participate in demolishing buildings to create fire-breaks to limit damage by fire in the event of air attacks...
In Hiroshima, of the 8400 students working as labour, about 6300 died on the day of the bombing...
The bereaved families began donated funds to build this tower...
Origami cranes at the tower...
Murals representing the efforts those students had put in...
And we move towards the Hypocenter...
This is the Hypocenter - the bomb exploded nearly 600 metres above this point. There was a hospital here by the name of Shima Hospital, which had been operated here since 1780 by the Shima family. On that fateful day, 80 people present there - medical staff and patients died instantly. The head of the hospital, Dr. Kaoru Shima was was in a neighbouring city where he had gone to assist a colleague with a difficult operation alongwith an attending nurse - they were the only survivors of the Shima Hospital staff.
Dr. Shima returned to Hiroshima on the night of August 6, 1945 and started treatment of injured people immediately. The next day, Dr. Shima returned to the location where the hospital stood and found an operation tool he had purchased in the United States as the only remaining trace of the structure. He found a large quantity of bleached bones in the debris, as human flesh had vapourised immediately as the bomb exploded.
Today, the Shima family still runs a clinic here which goes by the name Shima Geka Naika.
We head a quick meal close by and headed to Genbaku Dome-mae tramcar station to catch a tram back to Hiroshima station...
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