Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Established 1955,
remodeled 1991,
renovated Peace Memorial Hall 1994
Location 1-2 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Director Koichiro Maeda
Website www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan. It was established in August 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall (now the International Conference Center Hiroshima). The museum exhibit presents the facts of the atomic bombing, with the aims of contributing to the abolition of nuclear weapons throughout the world, and of promoting world peace. It is the most popular of Hiroshima's destinations for school field-trips from all over Japan and for international visitors, too. 53 millions people had visited the museum from opening on 1955 through 2005. The number of visitors are over one million people per year. The architect of the main building was Kenzo Tange.

Contents

[edit] Museum content

According to the introduction in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum's English guide: "The Peace Memorial Museum collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombings and others that present the current status of the nuclear age. Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger, or pain of real people. Having now recovered from the A-bomb calamity, Hiroshima's deepest wish is the elimination of all nuclear weapons and the realization of a genuinely peaceful international community."[1]

To facilitate education, the museum was renovated in 1994 and is now divided into two sections.

The East Wing — the newest addition — explains the history of Hiroshima City before the bomb, development and decision to drop the bomb, the lives of Hiroshima citizens during World War II and after the bombing, and ends with information about the nuclear age and efforts for international peace. Included in this section is a model showing the damage done to the city.

The West Wing, which was part of the old museum, concentrates on the damage of the bomb. Sections include Material Witness, which shows clothing, watches, hair, and other personal effects worn by victims of the bomb; Damage by the Heat Rays, a section that looks at what happened to wood, stone, metal, glass, and flesh from the heat; Damage by the Blast, focusing on the destruction caused by the after shocks of the blast, and Damage by the Radiation which goes into details about the health effects suffered by humans.

[edit] Peace education programs

[edit] Access


[edit] Gallery

[edit] List of notable visitors

Date Distinguished visitor Nationality remark, "Message for Peace"
July 26, 1959 Ernesto Guevara  Argentina visited as a Cuban ambassador [2]
August 6, 1971 Eisaku Sato  Japan 1st Prime minister of Japan to attend the Peace Ceremony of 8/6, he introduced Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles
February 25, 1981 Pope John Paul II  Vatican City Pope, "God's hope is one of peace, not one of pain." MFP
April 24, 1981 Margrethe II  Denmark Queen of Denmark
December 8, 1981 Olof Palme  Sweden Prime minister of Sweden
March 13, 1982 Sandro Pertini  Italy President of Italy
August 26, 1982 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar  Peru Secretary-General of the UN
December 7, 1983 Abu Sayeed Chowdhury  Bangladesh President of Bangladesh
March 16, 1984 Iri Maruki, Toshi Maruki  Japan Artist of The Hiroshima Panels
May 25, 1984 Jimmy Carter  USA 39th US President, visited after his presidency
July 8, 1984 San Yu  Burma President of Burma
August 5, 1984 Floyd Schmoe  USA Pacifist, author
August 5, 1984 es:Mary McMillan  USA Founder of AWPTA current American Physical Therapy Association
September 15, 1984 Rodrigo Carazo Odio  Costa Rica President of Costa Rica
November 10, 1984 Kalevi Sorsa  Finland Prime Minister of Finland
November 23, 1984 Mother Teresa  Albania Indian citizen, founder of Missionaries of Charity, "Let us love one another as God loves each one of us, so that the terrible evil that had ..." MFP
August 5, 1985 Leonard Bernstein  USA Conductor, composer, "Too many words already. Not enough action!" MFP
June 11, 1986 Bernard Lown, Eugueni Chazov  USA Founder of IPPNW, 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, "We physicians from the IPPNW are committed that the mistake never be repeated. ..." MFP
September 16, 1986 Maung Maung Kha  Myanmar Prime Minister of Myanmar
December 4, 1986 Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado  Mexico President of Mexico
February 26, 1987 Humayun Rashid Chowdhury  Bangladesh president of the 41st session of the UN General Assembly
September16,1987 Ati George Sokomanu  Vanuatu President of Ni-Vanuatu
November 12, 1988 Adolfo Pérez Esquivel  Argentina Sculptor, architect and pacifist. 1980 Nobel Peace Prize, "Let me express my solidarity with the Japanese people. Hiroshima is a testimonial for ..." MFP
September 14, 1989 Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo  Uruguay President of Uruguay
November 4, 1989 Andrei Sakharov  USSR Physicist, 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, "Sadness wrings my heart. We all must swear to do our best so as to avoid repeating ..." MFP
March 17, 1990 Florence Griffith-Joyner  USA Athlete, Gold medalist
September 14, 1990 Hassan Gouled Aptidon  Djibouti President of Djibouti
October 6, 1990 Oscar Arias Sánchez  Costa Rica President of Costa Rica, 1987 Nobel Peace Prize, "I wish that all of the men and women in the world would engrave in their minds ..." MFP
November 2, 1990 Mairead Maguire Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Irish peace activist, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, "Let us put aside all thoughts and weapons of war, and pledge ourselves to use the means ..." MFP
November 10, 1990 Rafael Leonardo Callejas  Honduras President of Honduras
April 23, 1991 Junius Richard Jayawardene  Sri Lanka President of Sri Lanka
April 17, 1992 Mikhail Gorbachev  USSR President of the Soviet Union, visited after his presidency
August 5, 1992 Pengiran Yusof  Brunei Former Prime Minister of Brunei (A-bomb survivor), "To the people of Hiroshima as well as the whole world, Let us pray to GOD-ALLAH TAALA, ..." MFP
April 5, 1993 Martin Harwit  USA Director of

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
November 4, 1993 Azlan Shah  Malaysia Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
November 24, 1993 Yuriko Kuronuma  Japan Japanese violinist, "Seeing evidence that makes me embarrassed to be a member of the human race makes me ..." MFP
April 22, 1994 Ingvar Carlsson  Sweden Prime Minister of Sweden
May 7, 1994 Mamoru Mohri  Japan Japanese astronomer
October 5, 1994 Juan Antonio Samaranch  Spain President of the International Olympic Committee
February 25, 1995 Mary Robinson  Ireland President of Ireland
March 30, 1995 The Dalai Lama  Tibet 14th Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, "As humans, we all have the duty to eliminate, from this earth, weapons with destructive ..." MFP
August 8, 1995 Richard von Weizsäcker  Germany President of Germany
September 16, 1995 Alberto Fujimori  Peru President of Peru
November 1, 1995 Helmut Schmidt  Germany Chancellor of Germany
December 6, 1995 Václav Havel  Czech Republic President of the Czech Republic
December 6, 1995 Kocheril Raman Narayanan  India President of India
December 6, 1995 Kenzaburo Oe  Japan Author, 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, "I have been to this memorial museum on many occasions. Today, I visited here once again ..." MFP
December 6, 1995 Elie Wiesel  USA Romanian-born Jewish-American writer, 1986 Peace Prize, "We shall remember, We must remember, for only in memory is there some hope for us all." MFP
August 28, 1996 Betty Williams Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Cofounder of Community of Peace People. 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, "May we always remember the tragedy of this lovely city. May we all work to make sure ..." MFP
July 28, 1997 Frederik W. de Klerk  South Africa President of South Africa, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, "I was deeply touched. It must never happen again! Now is the time for an effort like ..." MFP
November 12, 1997 Shimon Peres  Israel Former Prime Minister of Israel, 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, "This is the greatest declaration against war in human history; it is also the greatest ..." MFP
April 18, 1998 Oscar Luigi Scalfaro  Italy President of Italy
June 12, 1998 Kuniwo Nakamura  Palau President of Palau
June 27, 1998 de:Kazimierz Smoleń  Poland Director of Auschwitz concentration camp memorial and former Polish prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp
July 3, 1998 Milorad Dodik  Republika Srpska Prime Minister of Republika Srpska
November 6, 1998 Girija Prasad Koirala  Nepal Prime Minister of Nepal
December 9, 1998 Seamus Heaney Northern Ireland Irish poet, 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, "The Peace Memorial Museum putting enlightenment where there was darkness ..." MFP
July 31, 1999 Vasco Rocha Vieira  Macau Governor of Macau.
March 12, 2000 Abdallah Baali  Algeria Ambassador of Algeria
May 12, 2000 José Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo  Nicaragua President of Nicaragua
August 3, 2000 Hisashi Inoue  Japan Writer, "This phrase Protest and survive is a wise word by anti-nuclear activist and physicist of the UK. I add the word Remember to the formula." MFP
September 19, 2000 Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo  East Timor Roman Catholic bishop, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, "I would like to thank the Mayor and the Director of the Museum for their sympathy ..." MFP
February 17, 2001 Abdulsalami Abubakar  Nigeria Head of State of Nigeria
February 22, 2001 Teburoro Tito  Kiribati President of Kiribati
April 15, 2001 Helen Clark  New Zealand Prime Minister of New Zealand
February 8, 2002 Aftab Seth  India Ambassador of India
August 3, 2002 Barbara Lee  USA U.S. House of Representatives
November 21, 2002 Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor  South Africa Member of Parliament of South Africa
March 3, 2003 Fidel Castro Ruz  Cuba President of Cuba
June 7, 2003 Ranil Wickremasinghe  Sri Lanka Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
January 29, 2004 Howard H. Baker, Jr  USA United States Ambassador
May 21, 2004 Jean Ping  Gabon Foreign Minister of Gabon
August 5, 2004 Alexander Losyukov  Russia Ambassador of Russia
November 4, 2004 Bertrand Delanoë  France Mayor of Paris
November 4, 2004 Mwai Kibaki  Kenya President of Kenya
July 23, 2005 Viktor Yushchenko  Ukraine President of Ukraine
March 15, 2006 Bingu wa Mutharika  Malawi President of Malawi
October 18, 2009 Lesao Lehohla  Lesotho Deputy Prime Minister of Lesotho
October 20, 2009 Sven Alkalaj  Bosnia Bosnian diplomat

Messages for Peace left by above visitors can be seen at Museum site.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ From “Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum” brochure, (Nakajima-cho: Hiroshima prf.) visited October 29, 2005
  2. ^ The Japan Times Che Guevara's daughter visits bomb memorial in Hiroshima retrieved 2011-7-26

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 34°23′30″N 132°27′07″E / 34.39167°N 132.45194°E / 34.39167; 132.45194

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial_Museum"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages