The ruined dome of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall [now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial]

A black and white portrait photograph showing the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The frame of the building's dome and numerous glassless windows are visible. No people can be seen in the image. This photgraph is on a page (showing ALB1760.111-120) captioned 'HIROSHIMA. 1953.' in its centre.

The building was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel and orginally called the Product Exhibition Hall when it was completed in 1915. It was renamed several times before it was destroyed. The USA dropped the an atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, the first atomic bombs ever used in combat. Japan was still fighting in the Second World War after its allies, including Nazi Germany, had surrended. This building was the only structure left standing after the Hiroshima bomb.

A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August. The combined bombings are estimated to have killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people. These devastating bombs were used to force Japan to surrender. Their use also provided the Americans, and their allies, with strategically useful data on atomic weapons, and strengthened the USA's position during the early stages of the Cold War against the USSR. Ethical, legal, military and historical aspects of the bombings have been debated by people across the world ever since. The building shown here is now called the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (also known as the Genbaku Dome) and has often become the focus of debates around nuclear weapons.