The cenotaph
Aligned with the Dome.
lienyuan lee — CC BY 3.0 · Christophe95 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Taisyo — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Unknown — CC BY 2.0 · そらみみ — CC BY-SA 4.0 · xiquinhosilva — CC BY 2.0 · Stéphane Gallay from Laconnex, Switzerland — CC BY 2.0 · Nesnad — CC BY 4.0
A memorial park at the heart of Hiroshima, dedicated to the city's legacy as the first in the world to suffer a nuclear attack at the end of the Second World War, and to the memory of the bomb's direct and indirect victims. It was designed by the Japanese architect Kenzō Tange on land that was the city's busiest commercial and residential district before the blast wiped it out. The park holds an arch-shaped cenotaph aligned on one axis with the Peace Flame and the Atomic Bomb Dome, and the Children's Peace Monument, hung with thousands of colourful paper cranes sent from around the world, along with many other monuments and statues, and cherry trees that bloom along the river in spring. At its southern end stands the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which uses documents, photographs and objects to show what happened to the city and its people that day and afterwards, and calls for a world free of nuclear weapons. A memorial ceremony is held in the park every 6 August, and more than a million people visit each year. The park is free; museum tickets are 200 yen for adults, and it opens 7:30-19:00 in most months, to 18:00 from December to February and 20:00 in August, according to its official site. Some exhibits are distressing, so prepare children before the visit.
Aligned with the Dome.
At the Children's Monument.
The city's memory.
Nakajima, between the Motoyasu and Ōta rivers, central Hiroshima
Atomic Bomb Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial)A building that remained standing close to where the atomic bomb dropped on Hiro4 minutes walk4.6
Hiroshima Castle (Carp Castle)A castle built by the warlord Mōri Terumoto between 1589 and 1599 on the delta o16 minutes walk4.1
Shukkei-en GardenA historic Japanese garden in central Hiroshima, begun in 1620 in the Edo period21 minutes walk4.6200 yen for adults, and the park around it is free; it opens 7:30-19:00 in most months, according to its official site.