Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law

On August 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb reduced Hiroshima City to ashes in an instant. In the face of seemingly impossible recovery amidst dire financial straits, the first special law in Japan was passed, inspiring hope and courage in people of Hiroshima. That law was the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law.
Article one states that the purpose of this law shall be to “provide for the construction of the city of Hiroshima as a Peace Memorial City to symbolize the ideal of the sincere pursuit of genuine and lasting peace.” These principles led to the adoption of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Plan; a plan that governed the construction of the Hiroshima we know today. The spirit of this law continues to be the guiding force behind urban development in Hiroshima.
Together with information about the reconstruction of Nagasaki, whose rise from the ashes of nuclear destruction was also aided by the enactment of a special law, this exhibition presents all seven articles of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law, with interpretations of each and analysis of the roles they played in the reconstruction of Hiroshima.