This monument, erected to commemorate the second anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Hiroshima, was unveiled on February 25, 1983. The abstract sculpture made of Italian marble is 3 meters high, 1.8 meters wide, 0.9 meters long, and weighs 6 tons. It symbolizes the world’s stability, harmony, and coexistence. Inscribed on the monument, both in Japanese and English, is a passage from the Pope’s “Appeal for Peace,” an address made in Hiroshima which called for nuclear abolition and drew a strong response from the world. The monument is located in the lobby of the first floor of the east wing of Peace Memorial Museum in downtown Hiroshima, where Peace Memorial Hall once stood.

The unveiling ceremony was held in the lobby of the first floor of Peace Memorial Hall. Yoshie Fujieda, 64, an A-bomb survivor and Hiroshima resident who called for the monument to be raised, revealed the monument, and then Vatican Ambassador to Japan Archbishop Mario Pio Gaspari read aloud a message from the Pope.

Ms. Fujieda had presented the Pope with a lei of 1000 paper cranes when he visited Hiroshima two years earlier. She called for constructing the monument, hoping to preserve the footprints of the Pope, a pilgrim for peace, in the A-bombed city of Hiroshima. A group of citizens then formed “The Committee for a Monument Commemorating Pope John Paul II’s Appeal for Peace” and solicited donations from the Hiroshima public.