The Hiroshi­ma Peace Memo­r­i­al (Gen­baku Dome) was the only struc­ture left stand­ing in the area where the first atom­ic bomb explod­ed on 6 August 1945. Through the efforts of many peo­ple, includ­ing those of the city of Hiroshi­ma, it has been pre­served in the same state as imme­di­ate­ly after the bomb­ing. Not only is it a stark and pow­er­ful sym­bol of the most destruc­tive force ever cre­at­ed by humankind, it also express­es the hope for world peace and the ulti­mate elim­i­na­tion of all nuclear weapons.