Hiroshima memorial grove

Picnic and origami at the Alte Bult

110 flowering cherry trees are pretty to look at in themselves. In Hanover, they were planted on the Alte Bult near the children's hospital in 1982. They commemorate the approximately 110,000 inhabitants of Hiroshima who died instantly when the USA dropped the atomic bomb on 6 August 1945.

Every year during the cherry blossom season in April, a picnic with family and friends is held in the Hiroshima memorial grove on the Bult. Calligraphy, origami, music, mangas and a tea ceremony are of course part of the event. In 1992, the Japanese donated a granite slab that lay between the tram tracks at the centre of the explosion in Hiroshima. In 1988, the Japanese city had already expressed its gratitude to the city of Hanover by building a tea house in the city park near the HCC. In 1995/96, the German-Japanese Society of Hanover created a Japanese tea garden next to the Rose Café.

A "Hanover Garden" adorns Hiroshima

Relations between the cities are multifaceted. The city has been twinned since 1983. A "Hanover Garden" was created in Hiroshima. The flowerbed was modelled on the Great Garden in Herrenhausen, only smaller. A copy of the sundial from 1712 and 3,000 box trees were also brought from Hanover.

Reminders on 6 August

The main day of remembrance in both cities (and certainly worldwide) is 6 August, the day the first atomic bomb was dropped. There are calls for these weapons to be banned (see also Aegidienkirche). Hiroshima is also twinned with Honolulu in Hawaii (USA), which was an enemy at the time.

Off on a listening walk

If you would like to hear the mayors of the two cities, their initiatives for nuclear disarmament in the "Mayors for Peace" city network, eyewitness accounts and other exciting information, simply download the appropriate audio walk. There are also ten audio stations with QR codes in the Hiroshima Grove. By the way: What is the cherry blossom festival called in Japanese? O-Hanami!

Listen to the cherry blossom festival