TOKYO - An art gallery in eastern Japan housing a series of paintings depicting the horrors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings is scheduled to reopen next year after renovation but faces an uncertain future due to the expected mounting costs of operating the facility.
Yukinori Okamura, managing director of the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels, is seeking support to keep the legacy of the artwork alive. "The significance of these paintings is only growing," as the number of atomic bomb survivors dwindles and fewer people remain to pass on their stories, he said.
Established in 1967, the gallery is located in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, and houses 14 works by the late, Nobel Peace Prize-nominated artists Iri and Toshi Maruki. The pieces are among the 15 folding screen paintings, one of which is permanently displayed at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
The paintings, known as the Hiroshima Panels, have been exhibited abroad including in the United States.
The museum has undergone several renovations, with its most recent closure taking place in September 2025. The aging building has suffered from rain leaks and humidity, which have damaged the artwork in recent years.
The latest upgrades include building new storage rooms, improving environmental controls and creating a more suitable display environment. The museum is scheduled to reopen in May 2027, in time for its 60th anniversary.
However, according to Okamura, rising construction material costs have pushed the project's estimated costs up by about 150 million yen ($923,000) to approximately 500 million yen, with some materials also becoming difficult to procure because of the conflict in the Middle East.
"We even have trouble fully compensating our staff and subcontractors," he added.
At the current pace of construction, the gallery is expected to exhaust approximately 440 million yen in donations it had collected as of June, making it difficult to continue operating after the renovation, Okamura said.
The soaring costs have also forced the gallery to suspend restoration work on the paintings, each measuring 1.8 meters high and 7.2 meters long, that began in 2021. Plans to install elevators have been postponed, and decisions on the gallery's interior layout and exhibition design remain unresolved.
"We can't even foresee what will happen in the next six months," Okamura said.
The 52-year-old director said he believes a world without nuclear weapons can become a reality, but only if people continue to keep alive the memory of the atomic bombings.
"The paintings represent universal human pain and make us think about how to confront such suffering," he added.
