10 Memorial Museums You Must Visit

Aug 18, 2023, 08:15 IST

Tanisha Rajput

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Japan

The museum honours the memory of people who lost their lives during the American atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The museum was constructed in 1955, a decade after the horrifying explosions.

Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Chile

Also called The Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, it was built two decades after the oppressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet ended. The museum is home to a permanent collection that narrates the story of the Chilean regime's crimes.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Germany

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oswiecim tells the complex story of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp. The museum opened in 1947, to honour the lives of those who lost theirs through unsettling horrifying instances.

Noor Ahmad

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Cambodia

Also known as Security-21, this is one of the most famous detention centres of the Khmer Rouge regime. Almost 20,000 people were tortured and killed here during the four years of the regime.

The Armenian Genocide Museum, Armenia

Referred to as The Great Crime, this Armenian Genocide Museum is dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. It was built in 1967 on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan.

La Maison des Esclaves, Senegal

Also known as the House of Slaves, it is a reminder of the atrocities inflicted upon the African people under the Atlantic slave trade. The building has a maze and narrow corridors.

Yad Vashem, Israel

Built in 1953, this museum in the Israeli state stands as a monument to the Jewish people who perished during the Holocaust, the ones who fought and those who survived it.

 Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum, China

The  Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum highlights painful episodes of the 1937 Nanking massacre or the Rape of the Nanking. Almost 200,000 Chinese were robbed, slaughtered and raped by the invading Japanese army. The museum is surrounded by symbolic scriptures and the hall contains historic documents and photographs.

September 11 Memorial Museum, USA

We all remember the horrifying incident of 9/11. The museum opened in 2014 and sits inside a memorial site designed by American-Israeli architect Micheal Arad. The museum consists of greenery, trees, and two deep pools representing the fallen Twin Towers.

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