Nagasaki children create their 'Guernica'

NAGASAKI--Children at a Nagasaki elementary school are creating their version of “Guernica,” the famous anti-war work by Pablo Picasso.

The original mural, 3.5 meters long and 7.8 meters wide, is said to represent the Spanish people’s anger over Nazi Germany’s bombing of the city of Guernica in 1937.

The children's project to create a mural the same size as Picasso's original is part of a peace education program at Kami-Nagasaki Elementary School in the city, where the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 9, 1945. The school is participating in Kids Guernica, an international project in which children in 40 countries are creating more than 160 murals.

The school's 80 fifth-graders began working on the project in June. The painting includes natural and historical legacies they treasure, represented with a balloon motif. The children said they want to convey the thoughts and feelings they put into the mural to the world.

When finished, the mural will be exhibited from Aug. 6 at the walkway connecting the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Ground Zero Hypocenter park.