The Ryugyong Hotel mercilessly dominates Pyongyang. It is the most prominent feature of the city’s skyline and the largest structure in the country. The hotel literally towers over Pyongyang: you can see it from every angle, every street, every vantage point inside the city. It is a shape of a massive black super-pyramid. But it is an empty shell. It is an abandoned giant, a ghost that haunts Pyongyang. Because of this, it is one of the creepiest features of Pyongyang. There are many eerie things in Pyongyang, but this hotel takes one of the top five ‘most creepy’ spots.
Because it was abandoned mid-construction, a construction crane was left at the pinnacle of the skyscraper. Apparently the crane is left in place so the North Koreans won't lose face. In other words, they can claim that the hotel's construction has only been 'temporarily suspended' as opposed to abandoned.
The Ryugyong Hotel is not visible at night. It is 105-floors, but since it has no electricity – since construction never finished and it is empty – it disappears into the blackness of a Pyongyang night. Then it reappears again at dawn, as though it were an apparition slowly manifesting in the morning fog. Official photos of Pyongyang show the building illuminated at night, but this is a result of photo manipulation.
The history of the hotel is creepy too. Construction began in 1987 as a Cold War response to a South Korean company’s completion of a huge hotel complex in Singapore. It was meant to host the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students. The building has 3000 rooms, seven revolving restaurants, and three wings converging at a common point to form a pinnacle. The top is a wide circular structure containing eight rotating floors and six regular floors. A construction crane is still perched at the top. Construction stopped in 1992 due to problems with building methods, materials, lack of funding, hydroelectricity shortages, and the prevailing famine. It cost 2% of DPRK’s GDP, or $750 million.
Because it was abandoned mid-construction, a construction crane was left at the pinnacle of the skyscraper. Apparently the crane is left in place so the North Koreans won't lose face. In other words, they can claim that the hotel's construction has only been 'temporarily suspended' as opposed to abandoned.
The Ryugyong Hotel is not visible at night. It is 105-floors, but since it has no electricity – since construction never finished and it is empty – it disappears into the blackness of a Pyongyang night. Then it reappears again at dawn, as though it were an apparition slowly manifesting in the morning fog. Official photos of Pyongyang show the building illuminated at night, but this is a result of photo manipulation.
The history of the hotel is creepy too. Construction began in 1987 as a Cold War response to a South Korean company’s completion of a huge hotel complex in Singapore. It was meant to host the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students. The building has 3000 rooms, seven revolving restaurants, and three wings converging at a common point to form a pinnacle. The top is a wide circular structure containing eight rotating floors and six regular floors. A construction crane is still perched at the top. Construction stopped in 1992 due to problems with building methods, materials, lack of funding, hydroelectricity shortages, and the prevailing famine. It cost 2% of DPRK’s GDP, or $750 million.
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