The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan. It was established on August 24, 1955. The vision of the museum is the complete international abolition of all nuclear weapons, and the promotion of world peace. Fifty-three million people had visited the museum from its opening in 1955 through 2005. The number of visitors is over one million per year. Since the museum opened, there have been numerous visits, by heads of state, foreign dignitaries, political figures, peace activists, and various celebrities or other notable figures.
List of notable figures DateDistinguished visitorNationalityremark, "Message for Peace"October 9, 1957Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister of IndiaDecember 9, 1958Douglas MacArthur II US AmbassadorJuly 26, 1959Ernesto Guevara visited as a Cuban ambassador The Japan Times Che Guevara's daughter visits bomb memorial in Hiroshima retrieved 2011-7-26August 7, 1960Akihito Crown Prince of JapanApril 16, 1963Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt Health Minister of West GermanyJanuary 27, 1964Baudouin King of Belgium April 11, 1964Richard Nixon visited four years before his presidency and laid a wreathJune 19, 1964Syed Harun Putra Yang di-Pertuan Agong of MalaysiaMarch 19, 1965Paolo Marella Ambassador of Holy SeeOctober 31, 1965Valentina Tereshkova CosmonautOctober 10, 1966Jean-Paul Sartre Philosopher, political activistOctober 16, 1968Alexis Johnson US AmbassadorOctober 31, 1969Armin H. Meyer US AmbassadorMay 10, 1970Gustav Heinemann President of West GermanyApril 16, 1971Hirohito Emperor of JapanAugust 6, 1971Eisaku Satō 1st Prime Minister of Japan to attend the Peace Ceremony of 8/6, he introduced Japan's Three Non-Nuclear PrinciplesJanuary 24, 1972Juan Carlos I Crown Prince of SpainOctober 24, 1972Robert Ingersoll US AmbassadorAugust 6, 1976Takeo Miki Prime Minister of JapanAugust 5, 1977Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe President of the 31st session of the UN General AssemblyJanuary 11, 1978Edward Kennedy SenatorDecember 23, 1979Dmitry Polyansky Soviet AmbassadorFebruary 25, 1981Pope John Paul II Pope, "God's hope is one of peace, not one of pain." MFPApril 24, 1981Margrethe II Queen of DenmarkMay 6, 1981Jayne Fonda ActressAugust 6, 1981Zenko Suzuki Prime Minister of JapanDecember 8, 1981Olof Palme Prime Minister of Sweden March 13, 1982Sandro Pertini President of ItalyAugust 26, 1982Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Secretary-General of the UNSeptember 14, 1982Isidoro Malmierca Peoli Foreign Minister of CubaMay 31, 1983Bert Röling Jurist, Dutch Judge at the Tokyo TrialAugust 6, 1983Yasuhiro Nakasone Prime Minister of JapanNovember 1, 1983Alain Delon ActorDecember 7, 1983Abu Sayeed Chowdhury President of BangladeshFebruary 3, 1984Joachim Meisner Bishop of BerlinMarch 16, 1984Iri Maruki, Toshi Maruki Artist of The Hiroshima PanelsApril 15, 1984Bill Hayden Foreign Minister of AustraliaMay 25, 1984Jimmy Carter 39th US president, visited after his presidencyJuly 8, 1984San Yu President of BurmaAugust 5, 1984Floyd Schmoe Pacifist, author August 5, 1984 :es:Mary McMillan Founder of AWPTA current American Physical Therapy Association September 15, 1984Rodrigo Carazo Odio President of Costa RicaNovember 10, 1984Kalevi Sorsa Prime Minister of FinlandNovember 23, 1984Mother Teresa Indian citizen, founder of Missionaries of Charity, "Let us love one another as God loves each one of us, so that the terrible evil that had ..." MFPAugust 5, 1985Leonard Bernstein Conductor, composer, "Too many words already. Not enough action!" MFPJune 11, 1986Bernard Lown, Eugueni Chazov Founder of IPPNW, 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, "We physicians from the IPPNW are committed that the mistake never be repeated. ..." MFPSeptember 16, 1986Maung Maung Kha Prime Minister of BurmaDecember 4, 1986Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado President of MexicoFebruary 26, 1987Humayun Rashid Chowdhury President of the 41st session of the UN General AssemblySeptember 16, 1987Ati George Sokomanu President of Ni-VanuatuNovember 5, 1987Frederik Crown Prince of DenmarkAugust 27, 1988Carlos López Contreras Foreign Minister of HondurasNovember 12, 1988Adolfo Pérez Esquivel Sculptor, architect and pacifist. 1980 Nobel Peace Prize, "Let me express my solidarity with the Japanese people. Hiroshima is a testimonial for ..." MFPSeptember 14, 1989Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo President of UruguayNovember 4, 1989Andrei Sakharov Physicist, 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, "Sadness wrings my heart. We all must swear to do our best so as to avoid repeating ..." MFPMarch 17, 1990Florence Griffith-Joyner Athlete, Olympic gold medalistSeptember 14, 1990Hassan Gouled Aptidon President of DjiboutiOctober 6, 1990Oscar Arias Sánchez President of Costa Rica, 1987 Nobel Peace Prize, "I wish that all of the men and women in the world would engrave in their minds ..." MFPNovember 2, 1990Mairead Maguire Northern Ireland Irish peace activist, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, "Let us put aside all thoughts and weapons of war, and pledge ourselves to use the means ..." MFPNovember 10, 1990Rafael Leonardo Callejas President of HondurasApril 23, 1991Junius Richard Jayawardene President of Sri LankaApril 17, 1992Mikhail Gorbachev President of the Soviet Union, visited after his presidencyAugust 5, 1992Pengiran Yusof Former Prime Minister of Brunei (A-bomb survivor), "To the people of Hiroshima as well as the whole world, Let us pray to GOD-ALLAH TAALA, ..." MFPApril 5, 1993Martin Harwit Director of Smithsonian National Air and Space MuseumNovember 4, 1993Azlan Shah Yang di-Pertuan Agong of MalaysiaNovember 24, 1993Yuriko Kuronuma Japanese violinist, "Seeing evidence that makes me embarrassed to be a member of the human race makes me ..." MFPApril 22, 1994Ingvar Carlsson Prime Minister of SwedenMay 7, 1994Mamoru Mohri Japanese astronomerOctober 5, 1994Juan Antonio Samaranch President of the International Olympic CommitteeFebruary 25, 1995Mary Robinson President of IrelandMarch 30, 1995The Dalai Lama 14th Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, "As humans, we all have the duty to eliminate, from this earth, weapons with destructive ..." MFPAugust 8, 1995Richard von Weizsäcker President of GermanySeptember 16, 1995Alberto Fujimori President of PeruNovember 1, 1995Helmut Schmidt Chancellor of GermanyDecember 6, 1995Václav Havel President of the Czech RepublicDecember 6, 1995K. R. Narayanan President of IndiaDecember 6, 1995Kenzaburō Ōe Author, 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, "I have been to this memorial museum on many occasions. Today, I visited here once again ..." MFPDecember 6, 1995Elie Wiesel Romanian-born Jewish-American writer, 1986 Peace Prize, "We shall remember, We must remember, for only in memory is there some hope for us all." MFPAugust 28, 1996Betty Williams Northern Ireland Cofounder of Community of Peace People. 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, "May we always remember the tragedy of this lovely city. May we all work to make sure ..." MFPJuly 28, 1997Frederik W. de Klerk President of South Africa, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, "I was deeply touched. It must never happen again! Now is the time for an effort like ..." MFPNovember 12, 1997Shimon Peres Former Prime Minister of Israel, 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, "This is the greatest declaration against war in human history; it is also the greatest ..." MFPApril 18, 1998Oscar Luigi Scalfaro President of ItalyJune 12, 1998Kuniwo Nakamura President of PalauJune 27, 1998Kazimierz Smoleń Director of Auschwitz concentration camp memorial and former Polish prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration campJuly 3, 1998Milorad Dodik Prime Minister of Republika SrpskaNovember 6, 1998Girija Prasad Koirala Prime Minister of NepalDecember 9, 1998Seamus Heaney Northern Ireland Irish poet, 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, "The Peace Memorial Museum putting enlightenment where there was darkness ..." MFPJuly 31, 1999Vasco Rocha Vieira Governor of Macau.March 12, 2000Abdallah Baali Ambassador of AlgeriaMay 12, 2000José Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo President of NicaraguaAugust 3, 2000Hisashi Inoue Writer, "This phrase Protest and survive is a wise word by anti-nuclear activist and physicist of the UK. I add the word Remember to the formula." MFPSeptember 19, 2000Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo Roman Catholic bishop, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, "I would like to thank the Mayor and the Director of the Museum for their sympathy ..." MFPFebruary 17, 2001Abdulsalami Abubakar Head of State of NigeriaFebruary 22, 2001Teburoro Tito President of KiribatiApril 15, 2001Helen Clark Prime Minister of New ZealandFebruary 8, 2002Aftab Seth Ambassador of IndiaAugust 3, 2002Barbara Lee U.S. House of RepresentativesNovember 21, 2002Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor Member of Parliament of South AfricaMarch 3, 2003Fidel Castro Ruz President of CubaJune 7, 2003Ranil Wickremasinghe Prime Minister of Sri LankaJanuary 29, 2004Howard H. Baker, Jr United States AmbassadorMay 21, 2004Jean Ping Foreign Minister of GabonAugust 5, 2004Alexander Losyukov Ambassador of RussiaNovember 4, 2004Bertrand Delanoë Mayor of ParisNovember 4, 2004 Mwai Kibaki President of KenyaJuly 23, 2005Viktor Yushchenko President of UkraineMarch 15, 2006Bingu wa Mutharika President of MalawiOctober 18, 2009 Lesao Lehohla Deputy Prime Minister of LesothoOctober 20, 2009 Sven Alkalaj Bosnian diplomatNovember 30, 2010 Sheikh Hasina Wajed Prime Minister of BangladeshAugust 6, 2012 Clifton Truman Daniel Grandson of President TrumanJune 24, 2014 Benigno Aquino III President of PhilippinesApril 17, 2015 Caroline Kennedy US AmbassadorApril 20, 2016 John Kerry US Secretary of State May 27, 2016 Barack Obama 44th US PresidentMay 9, 2017 Linas Linkevičius Foreign Minister of LithuaniaJune 30, 2017 Bohuslav Sobotka Prime Minister of Czech RepublicMarch 15, 2018 Maithripala Sirisena President of Sri Lanka
Title noted at remark are as of date of the visit. Messages for Peace left by above visitors can be seen at Museum site.
See also Hiroshima Witness Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims Nagasaki Peace Park
References
External links Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum official website Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims