71006-0016 - A-Bomb Dome

Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall and Motoyasugawa River (元安川) in Hiroshima. Photographed from Motoyasu Bridge (元安橋) between 1921 (Taisho 10) and 1933 (Showa 8).

Designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel, the building was completed in April 1915 (Taisho 4) and named the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition (HMI).

The name was changed to the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall in 1921 (Taisho 10), and to the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall in 1933 (Showa 8). That dates this postcard to between 1921 and 1933.

The 6 August 1945 (Showa 20) nuclear explosion that devastated Hiroshima found place almost directly above the building.

Now known as the Genbaku Dome (A-Bomb Dome), this Hiroshima Peace Memorial was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 1996 (Heisei 8).