Silent Witness with Only a Head... Reason for US Visit After 16 Years

The "A-bombed Mary statue," which was left with only its head after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, is heading to the United States again after 16 years.

The visit is intended to convey the tragedy of the atomic bombing and the importance of nuclear disarmament to the world, coinciding with the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to be held in New York, USA, this coming November.

According to Kyodo News on the 30th, a delegation visiting the US, composed of local Catholic clergy and atomic bomb survivors, plans to exhibit the A-bombed Mary statue at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and local US churches between November and December, while also holding exchange events with civic groups.

This marks the first time in 16 years that the Mary statue, currently enshrined at Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, is traveling to the United States since the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.

The Mary statue was discovered in the ruins of Urakami Cathedral, which had been reduced to ashes following the atomic bombing.

Even while the cathedral's beautiful stained glass was shattered and the altar burned, only the wooden head portion of the Virgin Mary statue retained its form.

Bearing the soot and scars of the atomic devastation, it is called a "silent witness" and has served as a subject for various literature and music.

The delegation for this US visit is composed of atomic bomb survivors and Japanese officials from the "Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons," which was formed by Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and US Catholic dioceses.

With concerns growing over the international community's regression in nuclear disarmament—such as the recent expiration of the US-Russia New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and the disruption of the NPT Review Conference—attention is focused on the Mary statue's trip to the US.

At this first review conference of the TPNW, which entered into force in 2021, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are scheduled to attend and deliver speeches, and the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) also plans to dispatch a delegation of survivors.

However, nuclear-armed states and Japan are not participating in the treaty.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.