The number of visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on the first weekend after the historic visit by U.S. President Barack Obama more than doubled from a year ago, officials said Monday.
Obama went to Hiroshima on Friday to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the atomic-bombed city.
Before delivering a speech in Peace Memorial Park near ground zero, Obama stopped at the museum, which displays artifacts of the victims and other exhibitions related to the nuclear attack 71 years ago.
The number of visitors to the museum stood at 6,673 on Saturday and 6,716 on Sunday for a total of 13,389. According to the museum, the final weekend in May last year drew 6,609 people.
The museum received dozens of inquiries about Obama's message in the guest book and paper cranes offered to the museum.
They were not displayed for visitors, but the museum is considering exhibiting them in the future.
Obama wrote in the guest book: "We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons."
Paper cranes are viewed as a symbol of peace in Hiroshima as Sadako Sasaki, an iconic victim of the bomb, made them in her hospital bed, praying for recovery.