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The Atomic Bomb Dome or "Gembaku Domu", as it is called in Japanese, is the silent witness to the ravages of the nuclear bombing of 6th August 1945. The building is in fact, one of the very few structures to have survived the explosion that had practically annihilated the city. Recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1996 this Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima now stands as a symbol of the unprecedented damage done by the ghastly nuclear explosion. The Dome was actually a 1915 construction named Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition but was changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall in 1933. Originally designed by a Czech architect named Jan Letzel, this building served as a public commercial complex until the explosion damaged it to ruins. The Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall however, miraculously managed to survive the explosion that occurred barely a hundred meters beyond it. The damages on the building have been left as the same and they now symbolize the devastation unfurled by the explosion. The old Prefectural Industrial building is presently known as the Atomic Bomb Dome, and the area surrounding it has been transformed into the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park. Holding up the damages of the atomic bomb, which had swept the city in a tide of death and destruction, Gembaku Dome at present stood as a sign for world peace, and disarmament.
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