Fragments of Roof Tiles

Under the atomic blast, the roofs of Hiroshima were torn apart, their fragments scattered across the city. These roof tile fragments were collected from the Motoyasu River, which flows through the city into Hiroshima Bay. 

The surfaces of atomic-bombed roof tiles have been severely blistered and bubbled from the exposure to intense heat during the atomic bomb's explosion. The texture and colour of the exposed surfaces are noticeably different from the reverse sides of the tiles, or from areas that had been protected beneath overlapping tiles.