The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, usually called the Genbaku Dome or Atomic Bomb Dome, is not a building visitors enter. It is the exposed framework of the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, preserved beside the Motoyasu River in the center of the city. Designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in 1915, the hall had served exhibitions and civic promotion before the atomic bombing of 6 August 1945. The surviving structure stands close to the blast’s hypocentre. Its damaged roof and skeletal walls make the absence of the people and urban life around it impossible to treat as an abstract historical detail.
The bomb destroyed most of the building, but sections of its central frame remained standing. Hiroshima chose to preserve the ruin rather than clear it away as reconstruction reshaped the city. The city council resolved in 1966 to conserve the structure, and later work used reinforcement intended to retain its post-blast condition. UNESCO inscribed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on the World Heritage List in 1996. The listed property covers 0.4 hectares; its 42.7-hectare buffer zone includes the Peace Memorial Park. The designation recognizes the Dome as a witness to the destruction caused by nuclear weapons and as a symbol of the hope for lasting peace and disarmament.