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I was wondering if the Genbaku Dome inscription in 1996 might have originally been intended to take place in 1995 - i.e on the 50th Anniversary of the bombing.

We know that both China and USA objected to the inscription in 1996, so it could have been that knowledge of their opposition had caused a delay from 1995 whilst political manoevering took place - to ensure for instance that their objections would go no further than the statements they eventually made.

The minutes of the Bureau and WHC in 1995 give no indication that the matter was under debate in that year so, if there were any discussions, they were taking place privately. The ICOMOS evaluation is dated Oct 1996 at the bottom BUT, at the top, the date is given as 28 Sept 1995!! Now the 19th session of the WHC took place in Berlin between 4th and 9th of December 1995. There is also another comment in the evaluation that "The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Genbaku Dome, was visited by an ICOMOS expert mission in August 1993." So it could be that ICOMOS did its original evaluation document in time for the 1995 WHC!!

I also discovered this paragraph in http://folk.uio.no/atleom/master/4.htm
"This inscription also demonstrates how political changes affect listing and that World Heritage designation is not an apolitical activity. When Japan started to work with the inscription of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial after the acceptance of the Convention in 1992, a joint inscription of Hiroshima and the first test site of nuclear weapons in the United States was planned. However, the United States withdrew the project and in 1996 opposed the inscription."

Interesting if true. After signing the World Heritage Convention in 1992, Japan achieved inscriptions in 1993, 4 and 5 before Genbaku Dome was nominated and accepted.
Does anyone know anything more about either the idea of a joint US/Japanese nomination and also whether there had been any intention to synchronise inscription with the 50th Anniversary - there were indeed significant commemorative events worldwide on that date.

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	Solivagant Partaker	#1 \| Posted: 12 Oct 2010 12:12 \| Edited by: Solivagant
		I was wondering if the Genbaku Dome inscription in 1996 might have originally been intended to take place in 1995 - i.e on the 50th Anniversary of the bombing. We know that both China and USA objected to the inscription in 1996, so it could have been that knowledge of their opposition had caused a delay from 1995 whilst political manoevering took place - to ensure for instance that their objections would go no further than the statements they eventually made. The minutes of the Bureau and WHC in 1995 give no indication that the matter was under debate in that year so, if there were any discussions, they were taking place privately. The ICOMOS evaluation is dated Oct 1996 at the bottom BUT, at the top, the date is given as 28 Sept 1995!! Now the 19th session of the WHC took place in Berlin between 4th and 9th of December 1995. There is also another comment in the evaluation that "The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Genbaku Dome, was visited by an ICOMOS expert mission in August 1993." So it could be that ICOMOS did its original evaluation document in time for the 1995 WHC!! I also discovered this paragraph in http://folk.uio.no/atleom/master/4.htm "This inscription also demonstrates how political changes affect listing and that World Heritage designation is not an apolitical activity. When Japan started to work with the inscription of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial after the acceptance of the Convention in 1992, a joint inscription of Hiroshima and the first test site of nuclear weapons in the United States was planned. However, the United States withdrew the project and in 1996 opposed the inscription." Interesting if true. After signing the World Heritage Convention in 1992, Japan achieved inscriptions in 1993, 4 and 5 before Genbaku Dome was nominated and accepted. Does anyone know anything more about either the idea of a joint US/Japanese nomination and also whether there had been any intention to synchronise inscription with the 50th Anniversary - there were indeed significant commemorative events worldwide on that date.