Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, National memorial hall for atomic bomb victims in Nagasaki, Japan
The Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims stands beside the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hirano-machi, not inside the Peace Park. Architect Akira Kuryu set most of the building underground, keeping the hypocentre area's skyline open; above ground a 29-metre black granite basin holds water, and below, a remembrance hall of 9-metre glass pillars draws light down from above.
The hall was built by the national government under Article 41 of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law, the second such national facility after Hiroshima, and opened in July 2003. Construction ran from November 2000 to December 2002 to designs by architect Akira Kuryu, at a total cost of about 4.4 billion yen; the building won the 2006 Murano Togo Prize. It is run by the Nagasaki Peace Promotion Association.
Visitors can write a peace message on a screen using a pen-shaped stick; a photo of the writer is taken and kept with the message for ten years. Many messages address world peace, but couples often write to their future selves under the theme "myself in ten years".
The hall is next to the Atomic Bomb Museum and the Nagasaki City Peace Hall; from the museum it can be mistaken for part of the same complex, but it is a national facility with free admission. Reach it by tram from Nagasaki Station to the Atomic Bomb Museum stop, then about three minutes on foot, or by bus to the Medical School stop. The displays are underground, reached by stairs and lifts.
The hall's above-ground basin is 29 metres across, faced in black granite, and holds some 70,000 fibre-optic lights — the same figure as the estimated deaths by the end of 1945. The building is sunk two storeys underground so it does not block views around the hypocentre.
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