Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Atomic Bomb Dome

The history of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park starts with the land under it, and the park keeps that history in view. The area was previously an urban district called Nakajima, a thriving commercial center in the Edo era where goods coming up the rivers on boats were unloaded, sold or sent on by land.⁷ About 6,500 people are estimated to have lived in the seven neighborhood units of Nakajima when the atomic bomb exploded over the area.⁸ Before the bombing it was the central commercial district of Hiroshima.⁹

After the war the city did not rebuild it. On August 6, 1949, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law decided that the entire Nakajima district would be devoted to peace memorial facilities, and that was the beginning of what is now the Peace Memorial Park.¹⁰ JNTO adds that the recovering city decided the area should become a place of remembrance and contemplation, rather than simply being rebuilt.¹¹ The park was completed on April 1, 1954.¹²

Today the park lies mostly on a narrow stretch of land between two rivers, extending south from the Atomic Bomb Dome, and JNTO calls it a green island in the middle of the city.¹¹ It covers about 122,100 square meters.¹ Walk it from the Dome toward the museum, and the layout reads as a deliberate line rather than a set of separate sights. Give yourself time to stop, since the monuments are placed for reflection and not for a quick circuit.

The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzl and completed in 1915.² At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the building was destroyed by the world's first atomic bomb dropping.¹³ It stood almost directly below the hypocenter of the blast.²⁹ Because the pressure of the blast came from above, part of the wall escaped collapse, and though much of the exterior was stripped away, the skeletal frame survived.^30,14

It was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List in December 1996 as a symbol of the devastation caused by the first atomic bomb.³ JNTO calls the Peace Memorial a symbol representing the cost of war and the importance of peace.³¹ It is the first thing you see on entering the park across the Motoyasu River.³² The city keeps the view clear on purpose, which makes the spot across the river the place to stand and look.²¹

The Dome stop of the streetcar is named for it. From JR Hiroshima Station take Hiroden streetcar No. 2 or 6, get off at Genbaku Dome-mae, and walk 1 minute; the total travel time is 17 minutes.⁴ On the bus tour on this site the Dome is the first planned stop and gets 15 minutes before the park's 35 minutes and the museum's 60. If you have the choice, come back once after your museum visit rather than only before it.

The Hiroshima Peace Park Rest House stands 170 meters from the hypocenter.²⁶ It burned down during the atomic bombing, was reconstructed after the war, and reopened in July 2020 with a tourist information center and local products on the first floor.²⁶ The foundation's map lists it as the former Taishoya Kimono Shop.⁶⁶ It is the practical stop in the park: a place for information and a pause, before or after the heavier sights.

The Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims is part of the park, and the hypocenter is marked at the former Shima Hospital.^38,37 The museum itself draws more than 1.7 million visitors a year.³⁶ The museum's own English site says it conveys the horrors of nuclear weapons through belongings left by the victims, A-bombed artifacts and survivors' testimonies, and spreads the message of No More Hiroshimas.⁶⁷ Give the hall and the hypocenter marker time even when the day is tight.

A guided walk can string these together. A 2-to-3-hour small group walk lists the Mother and Child in the Storm statue, the Prayer Fountain, the Cenotaph, the Flame of Peace, the National Peace Memorial Hall, the Children's Peace Monument, the Peace Bell, the Dome and the Hypocenter, with timed stops from 5 to 15 minutes, from $26. A private 6-hour tour of Hiroshima and Miyajima starts with the museum and these park stops, from $98.

You can walk the park alone, because the monuments are named and the line of the park is easy to follow. From the Genbaku Dome-mae streetcar stop the park is 1 minute away on foot, and the total ride from the station is 17 minutes; JNTO's local-treasures page gives about 20 minutes by streetcar or bus.^4,73 The museum lies at the south end, so walking south from the Dome ends there, and the 2.5-hour guided walk finishes at the museum as well.¹⁸

The guided options differ by scope. A 2-hour group walk with guides in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi lists the Gates of Peace, the Prayer Fountain, the Cenotaph, the Flame of Peace, the Korean victims' cenotaph, the Children's Peace Monument and the Dome, from $20. A 2.5-hour walk from Gokoku Shrine passes Hiroshima Castle and Hiroshima Gate Park before the Dome and park, from $35, with 1,276 reviews rated 4.87.

For the park inside a full day, the Viator bus tour on this site goes from Hiroshima Station for 8 hours and visits the Dome, the park, the museum, Itsukushima Shrine and Daishoin, listed from $126. It has 9,491 reviews rated 4.97. Choose it if the park is half of your plan and the island is the other half; choose a park walk if the park alone is your day and you want time to pause at each place.