A series of famous paintings by a couple who witnessed the aftermath of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima is set to be restored for the first time, 71 years after the first work in the series was released.
The set of 15 works titled "The Hiroshima Panels" by the late Iri and Toshi Maruki, who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, have severely deteriorated and become moth-eaten over the years.
"We want to pass on (the works) from generation to generation so that the tragedy of the atomic bombing will never happen again," said Yukinori Okamura, the curator of the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, where the collection is preserved.