Panoramic model of Hiroshima before the A-bombing to be displayed again, this time at Rest House
Feb. 16, 2017
by Gosuke Nagahisa, Staff Writer
The City of Hiroshima has decided to reuse the panoramic model that depicts the townscape of the former Nakashima district before the war. The model was exhibited in the east wing of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in downtown Hiroshima, until 2014. It will be displayed again as soon as the Rest House, which endured the atomic bombing and is located in the former Nakashima district, now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, is renovated and then reopened at the beginning of fiscal 2019. The model is expected to convey to visitors what it was like in and around the park, once a bustling shopping district, before the A-bomb attack.
The round-shaped model has a diameter of about 3.3 meters. It is a one-200th scale model in which the appearance of the former Nakashima district was restored as of August 5, 1945, the day before the atomic bombing, based on aerial photos and other data. The model shows how this district was crowded with stores and private houses, and dotted with temples. It was created in 1994 when the east wing opened and was placed at the start of the suggested route for visitors. It was taken away at the end of August 2014, after the exhibit space was closed for renewal, and is now kept in city storage.
The model will be displayed again at the Rest House, which the city is planning to renovate. The Rest House is a reinforced concrete building with three floors above ground and one basement with total floor space of 1,011 square meters. The renovated building will provide an exhibition room on the third floor, and the part of the model that features the former Nakashima district between the Motoyasu River and the Honkawa River will be removed and exhibited there.
For the building’s renewal, the inside of the Rest House will be decorated as it was in 1929, when the building was built as the “Taishoya Kimono Shop.” The Rest House will have a tourist information center and a shop on the first floor and a space for resting on the second floor. The basement will be preserved as it was in the aftermath of the atomic bombing.
According to the Tourism Department of the City of Hiroshima, the evaluation of the seismic capacity of the building, which was conducted in 2014, revealed that the building is at high risk of crumbling or collapsing in a tremor with an intensity of upper 6 or 7 on the Japanese seismic scale. The city has now fallen behind the original work schedule, because it carried out an additional examination of the rate of deterioration of the concrete used to construct the building. Initially, the renovation work was scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2018 fiscal year, but it is now expected to end in fiscal 2019, a delay of up to three months. When the city begins the full-scale construction work in fiscal 2017, the tourist information center will move into a temporary facility in the park and the Rest House will close for the time being.
(Originally published on February 16, 2017)
The City of Hiroshima has decided to reuse the panoramic model that depicts the townscape of the former Nakashima district before the war. The model was exhibited in the east wing of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in downtown Hiroshima, until 2014. It will be displayed again as soon as the Rest House, which endured the atomic bombing and is located in the former Nakashima district, now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, is renovated and then reopened at the beginning of fiscal 2019. The model is expected to convey to visitors what it was like in and around the park, once a bustling shopping district, before the A-bomb attack.
The round-shaped model has a diameter of about 3.3 meters. It is a one-200th scale model in which the appearance of the former Nakashima district was restored as of August 5, 1945, the day before the atomic bombing, based on aerial photos and other data. The model shows how this district was crowded with stores and private houses, and dotted with temples. It was created in 1994 when the east wing opened and was placed at the start of the suggested route for visitors. It was taken away at the end of August 2014, after the exhibit space was closed for renewal, and is now kept in city storage.
The model will be displayed again at the Rest House, which the city is planning to renovate. The Rest House is a reinforced concrete building with three floors above ground and one basement with total floor space of 1,011 square meters. The renovated building will provide an exhibition room on the third floor, and the part of the model that features the former Nakashima district between the Motoyasu River and the Honkawa River will be removed and exhibited there.
For the building’s renewal, the inside of the Rest House will be decorated as it was in 1929, when the building was built as the “Taishoya Kimono Shop.” The Rest House will have a tourist information center and a shop on the first floor and a space for resting on the second floor. The basement will be preserved as it was in the aftermath of the atomic bombing.
According to the Tourism Department of the City of Hiroshima, the evaluation of the seismic capacity of the building, which was conducted in 2014, revealed that the building is at high risk of crumbling or collapsing in a tremor with an intensity of upper 6 or 7 on the Japanese seismic scale. The city has now fallen behind the original work schedule, because it carried out an additional examination of the rate of deterioration of the concrete used to construct the building. Initially, the renovation work was scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2018 fiscal year, but it is now expected to end in fiscal 2019, a delay of up to three months. When the city begins the full-scale construction work in fiscal 2017, the tourist information center will move into a temporary facility in the park and the Rest House will close for the time being.
(Originally published on February 16, 2017)
