|
Description
|
This museum preserves and exhibits the largest number of artifacts and other materials related to the damage caused by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The Nagasaki City Atomic Bomb Museum (commonly known as "Rokkaku-do") which opened in 1949, and the Atomic Bomb Exhibit Room and the Atomic Bomb Resource Center in the Nagasaki International Culture Hall, which was built in 1955, were the predecessors of the current museum which was constructed in 1996. On the wall next to the ticket booth, past the ramp leading down to the basement, the "The Hiroshima Panels (XV): Nagasaki" is displayed ("The Hiroshima Panels"). In addition to exhibiting photographs showing the devastation of the atomic bombing and artifacts of A-bomb victims, the museum also introduces Nagasaki before the bombing, the history leading up to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and information on nuclear weapons in the present day. There has been debate even before the museum opened over how the exhibits would address Japan’s aggression and perpetration. It houses approximately 20,000 items including A-bomb damaged items, photographic material, and A-bomb paintings, and is also responsible for the collection, preservation, and organization of materials related to A-bomb damage (to search the collection, visit https://city-nagasaki-a-bomb-museum-db.jp/). The library (open 9:00 to 17:00, closed Mondays and year-end/New Year’s holiday) has a collection of 29,000 books on the atomic bombing and peace. At the museum the Nagasaki Foundation for the Promotion of Peace, a public foundation established through a public-private partnership, offers lectures by A-bomb survivors on their A-bomb experiences, family members and exchange witnesses, and volunteer peace guides.
|