Roses Donated by the Czechoslovakian Government (A-A-50-1)

Rose Varieties

• Block A (Atomic Bomb Dome South) Rose Garden Photograph Collection
• Block A (Atomic Bomb Dome South) Rose Garden Location Map

Tree Donor

The Czechoslovakian Government

Date Donated

November 21, 1979

Reason for Donation

The late Jan Letzl, architect of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall (now the Atomic Bomb Dome) served as the motivation for a visit to Hiroshima by the Czechoslovakian Parliament Speaker Alois Indra in December 1978. He spoke to the Mayor of Hiroshima about the possibility of an exchange of roses, an idea that reached fruition on February 8, 1979, when Hiroshima sent 18 saplings of six different Japanese rose varieties, including Kagayaki and Amatsu-Otome, to the Lidice Rose Gardens on the outskirts of Prague. During WWII, the entire village of Lidice was razed to the ground by Nazi forces. After the war ended, a British peace activist called for a rose garden to be built on the site of the village as a symbol of friendship and peace.

On November 15, 1979, Czech Prime Minister Strougal met with Prime Minister Ohira and presented him with 100 rose saplings, 95 of which were sent to Hiroshima by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 21.

After spending around three months in the Hiroshima Botanical Garden, the roses regained their strength and were planted across the city in February 1980: forty in the Peace Memorial Park near the Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students, twenty in the Hiroshima Botanical Gardens, ten at the Hiroshima Municipal Funairi High School, five at the Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High School, ten at the Hiroshima Municipal Hiroshima Commercial High School, and ten at the Hiroshima Municipal Technical High School.

Gifted roses: Rose Gaujard, Tahiti, King's Ransom, Morava, Piccadilly, Kronenbourg, Puszta (New Daily Mail), Sea Pearl, Ludmilla, Norita.

Location

Recent Photographs

Inquiries regarding this page

Flowers and Greenery Policy Section, Landscape Division, Greenery Promotion Division, Urban Development Bureau
1-6-34 Kokutaiji-machi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Tel: 082-504-2396 // Fax: 082-504-2391
Email: park@city.hiroshima.lg.jp