Ryugyong Hotel
The Ryugyong Hotel (sometimes anglicized as Ryu-Gyong Hotel or Yu-Kyung Hotel) is a skyscraper intended for use as a hotel in Sojang-dong, in the Potong-gang District of Pyongyang, North Korea. The hotel’s name comes from one of the historic names for Pyongyang: Ryugyong, or "capital of willows". Its 105 stories rise to a height of 330 metres (1,100 ft), and it contains 360,000 square metres (3,900,000 sq ft) of floor space, making it the most prominent feature of the city’s skyline and by far the largest structure in the country. It is currently the world’s 28th tallest building. If completed on schedule, it would have become the world’s tallest hotel.
Construction began in 1987 and ceased in 1992, due to the government’s financial difficulties. The unfinished hotel remained untouched until April 2008, when construction resumed after being inactive for 16 years.
The building’s plan for a 105-story height was reportedly a Cold War response to the completion of the Westin Stamford Hotel in Singapore the previous year by a South Korean company, SsangYong Group. North Korean leadership envisioned the project as a channel for Western investors to step into the marketplace. A firm, the Ryugyong Hotel Investment and Management Co., was established to attract a hoped-for US$230 million in foreign investment. A representative for the North Korean government promised relaxed oversight, saying, "The foreign investors can even operate casinos, nightclubs or Japanese lounges if they want to."
Other Information
- Location : Pyongyang, North Korea
- Coordinates : 39°02′11″N 125°43′50″E
- Status : Under construction
- Groundbreaking : 1987
- Estimated completion : 2012
- Height Antenna/Spire : 330 metres (1,100 ft)
- Roof : 330 metres (1,100 ft)
- Floor count : 105
- Floor area : 360,000 m2 (3,875,000 sq ft)
- Architect : Baekdu Mountain Architects & Engineers
- Contractor : Baekdu Mountain Architects & Engineers
- Developer : North Korea
Incoming search terms:
- ryugyong hotel