First use of a nuclear weapon - Hiroshima, Japan
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S5280ft
N 34° 23.750 E 132° 27.224
53S E 265925 N 3808985
The city of Hiroshima never asked for the fame of being the first city bombed by an atomic weapon, but they have used that notoriety to bring attention to the goal of the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
Waymark Code: WM35Y5
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Date Posted: 02/15/2008
Views: 60
Every year a peace declaration is read by the mayor of Hiroshima. This peace park is dedicated to the preservation of all of the history of the atomic bombing, with the hope that there will be "No more Hiroshimas".
The building shown is the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall, now known as the Genbaku Dome or A-Bomb Dome. It is the closest structure to survive the nuclear explosion on August 6, 1945. The hypocenter (ground point closest to the above-ground blast) was only 160 meters / 525 feet away. The plaque on site reads:
"The building now known as the A-bomb Dome was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in 1915. With its distinctive green dome, this magnificent building was soon a beloved Hiroshima landmark.
The hall was used to display and sell prefectural products. Its offices provided market research and consulting for local commercial enterprises, but its galleries also served as venues for art exhibitions, fairs, and a variety of cultural events.
Through the years, the name was changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall, then Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, as its functions expanded. As the war lengthened and intensified, the hall’s promotional activities dwindled. By April 1944, it was housing the Chugoku-Shikoku Public Works Office of the Interior Ministry, the Hiroshima District Lumber Control Corporation, and other government offices.
At 8:15 a.m., August 6, 1945, an American B29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb, the first atomic bombing in human history. The bomb exploded approximately 600 meters above and 160 meters to the southeast of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The building was crushed and gutted by fire. Everyone in the building died immediately.
However, because the blast came from almost directly above, some of the walls of the building remained standing, leaving enough of the building and iron structure at the top to be recognizable as a dome.
After the war, the badly damaged skeletal remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall came to be known as the A-bomb Dome.
For many years opinion about the Dome were divided. Some felt it should be preserved as a memorial to the bombing, while others, calling it a dangerously dilapidated structure that evoked painful memories, advocated its destruction.
Gradually, as the city was rebuilt and other A-bombed buildings vanished, the desire to preserve the Dome gathered strength. In 1966, the Hiroshima City Council passed a resolution declaring that the A-bomb Dome would be preserved in perpetuity. This led to a campaign to raise the funds required to physically preserve the Dome. Donations poured in from those who wished for peace in Japan and overseas. The first preservation project was implemented in 1967.
Subsequently, several preservation projects have been carried out to ensure that the Dome will always look as it did immediately after the bombing.
In December 1996, the A-bomb Dome was formally registered on the World Heritage List as a historic witness to the tragedy of human history’s first use of a nuclear weapon and as a universal peace monument appealing for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of lasting world peace.
To help protect the Dome, the national government designated the area around it a historic site under the Cultural Properties Protection Act, with a larger area in and around the Peace Memorial Park set aside as a buffer zone."
FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location
Date of FIRST: 08/06/1945
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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