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The Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima is a moving testimony to the ravages done by the nuclear explosion in 1945. Built as a memorial for Sadako Sasaki, the monument stands today as a silent symbol for peace and harmony. Sadako Sasaki was one of the numerous children whose very world had been pulled apart by the bomb. Though the little girl had been left uninjured by the explosion, she died of leukemia after 10 years, proving to the world that the explosion was still looming large in the lives of Hiroshima people even after a decade of its occurrence. Also known as the "Tower of Thousand Cranes", this Children's Peace Monument was created by Kazuo Kikuchi the then professor of University of Fine Arts Tokyo. Thousands of folded paper cranes are offered to this peace monument throughout the year. The Children's Peace Monument opened on 5th May 1958, which is also the Children's Day in Japan. The monument houses a nine meter bronze statue of Sadako holding a golden crane over her head. The towering statue is a virtual symbol of hope and peace, and stands to narrate the brutality of nuclear warfare. The monument gathers over ten million cranes each year, and innumerable colorful cranes adorning the walls have now become a symbol of peace all across the globe. Sadako's zeal for life has kept her etched in the minds of millions, who visit the Children's Peace Monument in a silent resolve to free the world from violence and arms.
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