A-Bombed Hiroshima Castle Main Tower to Close in March

Hiroshima, Feb. 18 (Jiji Press)--The main tower of Hiroshima Castle will close on March 22 due to aging, marking the end of public access inside the building after it was destroyed by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing and restored as a symbol of reconstruction of the western Japan city.

The exterior of the castle tower, located within Hiroshima Castle Ruins, a national historic site, will be retained even after the closure, but the interior exhibition rooms in the five-story building will no longer be open to the public.

Many people hope that the main tower will be rebuilt as a wooden structure. The city government of Hiroshima is considering whether that is feasible.

Daimyo feudal baron Mori Terumoto began the construction of Hiroshima Castle in 1589. In 1931, the main tower was designated as a former national treasure, but when the atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II, the tower, located about one kilometer from the epicenter, collapsed.

After the war, the current third-generation tower was constructed with reinforced concrete in 1958, following the second-generation wooden temporary tower.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]