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“Inhumanity of nuclear weapons” to be emphasized in new message at Peace Memorial Museum

by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer

As major renovations begin at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a committee meeting of experts was held on March 25 to discuss the renewal of the displays. The committee, composed of 11 members and chaired by Wataru Imanaka, decided that the message greeting visitors from home and abroad must emphasize the purpose of the museum’s exhibits and should include the idea of the “inhumanity of nuclear weapons.”

Ten members of the committee attended the meeting, held in the East Building of the museum. They engaged in discussion on drafts of a message to be placed on the third floor of the building, where the entrance to the museum displays is located. Of the three ideas presented by the secretariat, members chose the draft which states that the museum seeks to convey the horror and inhumanity of nuclear weapons through artifacts of the atomic bombing and personal belongings of victims. The final text will be based on this draft.

The members also concluded the final drafts of the explanations to 26 items, which will be displayed on the second and third floors of the East Building, where visitors can learn about the historical background of the atomic bombing and the issues concerning nuclear weapons around the world.

The City of Hiroshima began renovation work on the East Building on March 18. The building will be closed this fall to complete the interiors, and will reopen with new displays in April 2016. After that, the seismic retrofitting of the Main Building will be carried out, along with updates to the displays there. The full museum will then reopen in April 2018.

(Originally published on March 26, 2014)

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