An art exhibit in Japan featuring the 'Statue of Peace,' symbolizing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, has been indefinitely closed after a package holding explosive material was delivered to the city-run gallery where it was on display.

According to Japan's Kyodo News on Thursday, the suspicious package burst earlier in the day after an employee at the Sakae Municipal Gallery in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, tried to open it. It was believed to have held fireworks. 

While there were no casualties, organizers decided to halt the exhibit over safety concerns.

The exhibit titled "After 'Freedom of Expression?'," which was scheduled to run through Sunday, had also been forced to close in 2019 when it first opened at the Aichi Triennale that year. The statue - depicting a young girl sitting in a chair with a small bird on her left shoulder - had prompted threats and objections over several days.

The exhibit is also unlikely to open in Osaka later this month as scheduled as a prefecture-sponsored facility revoked permission for organizers to use it as a venue.