Peace stone from Hiroshima beautifies Baku’s Museum of Fine Arts

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan became the latest nation among countries around the world to accept a peace stone from a Hiroshima-based civic group, Kyodo News reported.

The Stone for Peace Association of Hiroshima delivered a paving stone that survived the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city, engraved with an image of Buddhist goddess of mercy, to representatives of the Azerbaijani side during a ceremony at Baku’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Elchin Efendiyev, Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev and Japanese Ambassador Tsuguo Takahashi attended the ceremony, which brought together about 170 people.

Speaking at the event, Garayev said that accepting the peace stone symbolizes Azerbaijan's active efforts to promote global peace.

Japanese Ambassador Takahashi, for his part, said the peace stone represents a new step toward further developing relations between Japan and Azerbaijan.

Michio Umemoto, head of the Hiroshima-based civic group, referring to the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this year, said the stone is the start of a new life in the Azerbaijan capital.

The granite stone is about 50 centimeters square and weighs about 50 kilograms. It was one of the paving stones for Hiroshima streetcar tracks that were just 200 meters from ground zero.

The Stone for Peace Association of Hiroshima was established in 1991 for the purpose of drawing attention to peace by sharing stones for peace.

The stones were streetcars when the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima in August 1945. When it was proved that the stones were no longer radioactive and harmful to humans, some 10,000 citizens gathered to engrave an image of the Goddess of Mercy in addition to the words “From Hiroshima” on the stone, while praying for peace. As the carving work continued, people came up with the idea of donate those stones as a symbol of peace to countries around the world.