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Description
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Built in 1915 as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall and designed by Czech architect Jan Letzelits, the name was changed to the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall, and then renamed as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Products from around the prefecture were displayed and sold there. The hall was also used as offices for government agencies and control companies. It ceased to be used for its original purpose in 1944.
Located only 160 meters from the hypocenter the building was heavily damaged and burned by the atomic bomb, killing all the employees inside the building instantly, although the building’s steel frame and some walls managed to remain standing. From the immediate postwar period until the 1960s there was controversy over whether the ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, which had been known as the "Atomic Bomb Dome" since around 1950, should be preserved. As reconstruction of the city progressed and the A-bombed buildings were demolished one after another, there were growing calls for the preservation of the Atomic Bomb Dome. In July 1966, the Hiroshima City Council voted unanimously to preserve the Atomic Bomb Dome. The City of Hiroshima covered the cost of the preservation work with donations and in August 1967 a ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of the preservation work. After undergoing four seismic-retrofitting projects the building has been preserved to this day, retaining the damage caused by the atomic bombing.
In 1996, it was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site (cultural heritage) as the common heritage of humanity. The fact that the U.S. did not support this inscription and China had reservations on the approval of this nomination at the time made clear the differences between the Japanese and U.S./Chinese perceptions of the atomic bombing. There are many studies that question the symbolic significance of the Atomic Bomb Dome as an A-bombed building, as well as materials related to the preservation efforts and its registration in UNESCO’s Memory of the World. Interest in the Atomic Bomb Dome as an architectural structure is also high and the building has been the subject of research and study in terms of preservation methods, cultural asset protection, and peace tourism.
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