These 1,000 paper cranes are hand-folded by schoolchildren. They were donated by ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. On the 468 red paper cranes are the names of ICAN’s member organisations. Paper cranes have become a symbol of the innocent victims of nuclear weapons. The reason is the story of Sadako Sasaki, who suffered from leukaemia after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. According to Japanese folklore, folding 1,000 paper cranes will grant you a wish and good luck. When Sadako became ill, she started folding cranes. Despite folding more than a thousand cranes, she passed away when she was only 12 years old.
ICAN donated the paper cranes to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2017.
