Hiroshima, Japan: On August 6, 1945, the American war plane the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare, the effects of the bomb were devastating, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying much of the city. Shortly after the attack, survivors created a memorial and “peace park” in the area which sustained the worst damage, to preserve the massive destruction for future generations, and to educate the general public about the dangers of nuclear weaponry. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park features a wide variety of monuments, museums and historical markers, including the A-Dome, the closest building to the center of the explosion and a Peace Bell, which is frequently rung by visitors to express solidarity with the goal of world peace. The Park also includes a burial site, where the tens of thousands of Japanese victims of the bombing are interred.
