On August 6, 1945, a US Army Air Forces B-29 Bomber, the Enola Gay, flew over Hiroshima and dropped an atomic bomb. At 8:15 a.m., tens of thousands of people were killed instantly and obliterated the city of Hiroshima.
It was estimated that 140,000 people lost their lives by the end of the year from their injuries to radiation poisoning.
On August 6, 2019, people across Japan have been remembering the victims of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and about 50,000 people attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony.
But on that fateful day, there was only one building that survived right near the bomb’s hypocenter and that was the Genbaku Dome, which is know around the world as the A-Bomb Dome.
With the building being the one left standing, decades later there were people who wanted it demolish as it would bring bad memories of what took place but there are those who wanted it to be preserved as a memorial of the bombing and a symbol of peace.
While the structure was scheduled to be demolished with the rest of the city’s ruins, the skeletal remains of the Genbaku Dome were preserved.
I traveled to Hiroshima to pay my respects and remember the victims of the atomic bombing and I have to say that after visiting the museum, it was a feeling of sadness and after reading and looking at photos on the Internet and books, my priority must-see list was the Atomic Bomb Dome (A-Dome and in Japan, known as the Genbaku Dome).
The Genbaku Dome was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel and was completed in April 1915.
IT became the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall which became a beloved Hiroshima landmark that had a distinctive green dome.
The building was known for its business functions which includes commercial research and consulting services and was also a site where art exhibitions, fairs and cultural events took place.
The building would be later renamed to the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall and then the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.
But during World War II, the building soon became to be used by the Chugoku-Shikoku Public Works Office of the Interior Ministry, the Hiroshima District Lumber Control Corporation and other government agencies.
According to the information sign near the dome, the atomic bomb exploded approximately 600 meters above and 160 meters southeast of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall, ripping through and igniting the building and instantly killing everyone inside.
Because the blast struck from almost directly above, some of the center walls remained standing, leaving enough of the building and iron frame to be recognizable as a dome.
As mentioned, for many years after the war, opinions were divided between those who wanted the building destroyed as it was a structure which evoked painful memories, while others wanted to preserve it as a memorial and symbol of peace.
By 1966, the Hiroshima City Council passed a resolution to preserve the Genbaku Dome and a public fundraising campaign to finance the construction work would be started. Donations poured in from people wishing for peace from around Japan and became first preservation project in 1967.
Since then, several preservation projects has been carried out to ensure the dome will always look as it did immediately after the bombing.
Of course, you can’t go inside the building and the area around the building is fenced off to prevent from people trying to get in (and for one’s safety due to the building’s instability and also to prevent anyone from taking any rubble to bring back home.
In December 1996, the Genbaku Dome (The A-Bomb Dome) was registered on the World Heritage List as a historical witness conveying the horror of the first use of a nuclear weapon, and as a world peace monument appealing continually for lasting peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
To protect the dome, the national government designated the area around it as a historic site under the Cultural Properties Protecton Act, with a larger area in and around Peace Memorial Park set aside as a buffer zone.
If you happen to be traveling to Hiroshima, the Genbaku Dome is one that should be on your bucket list.
