Human Shadow Etched in Stone, Stone steps from former Sumitomo Bank in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Japan
Human Shadow Etched in Stone is a fragment of stone steps from the former Sumitomo Bank housed in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan. The surface shows a darker area where a person sat, while the surrounding stone was bleached by the heat of the detonation.
On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the atomic bomb explosion 260 meters away generated such intense heat that the stone was instantly bleached. The mark formed because a person's body shielded the direct radiation, preserving the original color of the stone.
The stone fragment comes from the entrance of the former Sumitomo Bank, where someone waited outside on an ordinary morning. Today, the artifact reminds visitors that behind each casualty there was an everyday life interrupted in a single moment.
The exhibit sits behind glass inside the Peace Memorial Museum, allowing visitors to view it up close. Conservation began in 1975 to preserve the mark for future generations.
Scientific analysis shows the shadow formed through extreme thermal radiation that altered the chemical structure of the stone. The person's body acted as a shield, preserving the original composition at that spot.
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