Nagasaki's A-bombed Virgin Mary to be displayed in US, 1st time in 16 yrs
NAGASAKI (Kyodo) -- The surviving head of a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary destroyed in the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki is expected to be brough
Nagasaki witnessed the first display of a Virgin Mary head from a statue destroyed by the atomic bombing in the United States after 16 years, according to a Catholic clergy group. The fragment of the wooden statue, currently residing at Urakami Cathedral in southwestern Japan, will be transported to New York for the upcoming conference in November.
The conference aims to review the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a development amid a global shift away from nuclear disarmament. The Catholic clergy group comprises members from nuclear disarmament advocacy networks, including Catholic organizations and archdioceses in both Japan and the United States. The last time the statue's head was brought to the United States was in 2010, during a review conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Plans are underway to showcase the head in public spaces such as U.N. headquarters, churches, and civic groups across the United States in November and December. The head was discovered in the ruins of the old Urakami Cathedral, which was obliterated by the bombing, and later returned to the church following a prolonged stay in Hokkaido.
The statue has been a symbol of the tragedy of the atomic bombing in various literary works and music pieces.
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