The Czech architect Jan Letzel designed the building that became the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. It was completed in April 1915 and opened that August as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall. It was renamed the Products Exhibition Hall in 1921 and the Industrial Promotion Hall in 1933. A dome crowns the building, and its exposed metal frame gave rise to the name Genbaku Dome. The structure is stone and steel, with outer walls partly of concrete and brick.
The atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. It missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, by 790 feet (240 m), and burst about 490 feet (150 m) horizontally and 1,970 feet (600 m) vertically from the dome.
The Hiroshima City Council voted for permanent preservation in 1966, and the work ended in 1967. Further stabilization followed, including one project from October 1989 to March 1990. UNESCO listed it in December 1996.
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