×

News

Ground surface from time of atomic bombing is exhibited at Hiroshima museum

by Kanako Noda, Staff Writer

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum announced on July 4 that a sample of the ground surface from the time of the atomic bombing will be shown to the public from July 11 through March of next year. This valuable artifact that was excavated from the grounds of the museum’s main building will convey information on the daily lives of the people who lived in the former Nakajima area, which was annihilated by the bomb.

According to the Hiroshima City Culture Foundation, which was entrusted with the excavation, the sample is 60 centimeters long, 90 centimeters wide, and 20 centimeters deep. It contains a charred wooden rice scoop, metal lids, glass pieces that were melted by the bomb’s heat, charred wooden boards that were believed to have been building materials, and burnt reddish soil. The sample was excavated about 75 centimeters below the current ground surface in the northeastern part of the grounds of the museum’s main building, which stands on what was once a bustling area where private homes and shops stood side by side.

The excavation was carried out between November 2015 and March 2017 prior to the seismic retrofitting of the museum’s main building. The sample of the ground surface was cut out in March 2016 and has been coated with resin to preserve it. It will be on display in a section of the museum’s east building that is freely open to the public.

An official from the Hiroshima City Culture Foundation said, “This is only part of the ground surface, but it can convey how the lives of ordinary people were destroyed in an instant. I hope people will turn their thoughts to the time of the atomic bombing.”

(Originally published on July 5, 2017)

Archives