Close to the Peace Park is the Hypocenter Park.
The Hypocenter Park is built around the exact spot where the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki at 11:02 am on 9th August 1945.
The intended target of the bomb was the Mitsubishi shipyard but cloudy weather resulted in the bomb being dropped over the Mitsubishi Arms Factory instead. However the bomb fell on the Urakami Catholic Church destroying almost everything within a radius of 1 km immediately. About 75,000 people were killed instantly while an almost equal number were injured and succumbed in the subsequent years.
A plaque near the hypocentre gives the details and statistics of the extent of damage caused on that fatal day.
"At 11:02 A.M., August 9, 1945 an atomic bomb exploded 500 meters above this spot. The black stone monolith marks the hypocenter. The fierce blast wind, heat rays reaching several thousand degrees and deadly radiation generated by the explosion crushed, burned, and killed everything in sight and reduced this entire area to a barren field of rubble. About one-third of Nagasaki City was destroyed and 150,000 people killed or injured and it was said at the time that this area would be devoid of vegetation for 75 years. Now, the hypocenter remains as an international peace park and a symbol of the aspiration for world harmony. "
A section of the wall of the Urakami Cathedral was reconstructed in 1959 near the Hypocentre.
The Cathedral was the largest Catholic Church in Japan at the time.
Construction of the Cathedral had taken 30 years and was completed in 1914 only to be destroyed in 1945.
A part of the ground level as it existed immediately after the Atomic Bombing is preserved.
A statue symbolising the agony of the victims and the dangers of nuclear weapons is placed in the park.
The Atomic Bomb Museum is located above the Hypocenter Park.
Entrance : Free
Access: 2 minute walk from the Peace Park
Nearest Station: Matsyuma-machi on the Nagasaki street car Routes 1 and 3.
The Hypocenter Park is built around the exact spot where the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki at 11:02 am on 9th August 1945.
A plaque near the hypocentre gives the details and statistics of the extent of damage caused on that fatal day.
"At 11:02 A.M., August 9, 1945 an atomic bomb exploded 500 meters above this spot. The black stone monolith marks the hypocenter. The fierce blast wind, heat rays reaching several thousand degrees and deadly radiation generated by the explosion crushed, burned, and killed everything in sight and reduced this entire area to a barren field of rubble. About one-third of Nagasaki City was destroyed and 150,000 people killed or injured and it was said at the time that this area would be devoid of vegetation for 75 years. Now, the hypocenter remains as an international peace park and a symbol of the aspiration for world harmony. "
A part of the ground level as it existed immediately after the Atomic Bombing is preserved.
The Atomic Bomb Museum is located above the Hypocenter Park.
Entrance : Free
Access: 2 minute walk from the Peace Park
Nearest Station: Matsyuma-machi on the Nagasaki street car Routes 1 and 3.
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