Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum stands at the heart of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Naka-ku, Hiroshima. It is the world's most significant museum dedicated to the atomic bombing of a civilian population and serves as a permanent testament to the events of August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped the uranium bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945.

The museum originated from a 1949 design competition for the Peace Memorial Park, won by Kenzo Tange, then an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo. Construction began in February 1951, and the Main Building opened on August 24, 1955. Tange's design became the first postwar Japanese architectural work to receive international acclaim. The Main Building is an 82-meter-long reinforced concrete structure elevated on pilotis — a deliberate design choice allowing an unobstructed visual axis from the Peace Boulevard through the Cenotaph to the Atomic Bomb Dome. The building was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2006.

The museum comprises two wings: the Main Building (West Wing) and the East Building, connected by an elevated walkway. The East Building, originally built in 1994, was fully renovated and reopened in 2017 with modernized exhibits. The Main Building underwent a comprehensive renovation completed in April 2019, refocusing its permanent exhibition on individual victims' stories rather than panoramic displays.

The permanent collection includes over 20,000 items: charred clothing, melted household objects, stopped watches frozen at 8:15 AM, photographs of victims, models depicting the city before and after the blast, and extensive documentation of radiation effects. The museum also houses the testimonies of hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and presents the ongoing global nuclear weapons situation.

The museum has welcomed more than 70 million visitors since 1955 — the 70-million mark was passed in September 2017 — averaging more than one million annually. Notable visits include those by world leaders, and it remains a focal point of international peace education and nuclear disarmament advocacy.