Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

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About Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opened in 1955, ten years after the atomic bomb, and is located at the southern tip of the Peace Memorial Park in a concrete building raised on pilotis, designed by Kenzo Tange. It is one of Japan’s most visited museums and receives school groups from across the country.

The visit begins in the East Building with an introduction about the city before the war, the development of the bomb and the decision to attack. A model shows the city center before and after the explosion. In the Main Building the exhibition is dedicated to the victims: torn clothing, a charred lunchbox, a tricycle, watches stopped at the time of the blast, the shadow of a person etched into a stone stair. Each object is accompanied by the story of who owned it.

The final section addresses the effects of radiation, illnesses that appeared in subsequent years and the lives of the survivors, the hibakusha, with their testimonies. The visit is intense, and the museum has rest areas between rooms.

There is an audio guide in multiple languages, and the museum often organizes sessions with survivor testimonies and accounts by successors who tell these stories. On exit, the path follows the park’s axis to the cenotaph and the Atomic Bomb Dome.