Ryugyong Hotel

The Ryugyong Hotel is an unfinished concrete skyscraper. It is 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 m (1,083 ft), and it contains 360,000 m² (3.9 million square feet) of floor space, making it the most prominent feature of the city’s skyline and by far the largest structure in the country. At one time, it would have been the world's tallest hotel.Esquire dubbed it "The Worst Building in the History of Mankind" and noted that the government of North Korea has airbrushed the building out of pictures. The Christian Science Monitor called it "one of the most expensive white elephants in history" Over the years, the skyscraper has earned such nicknames as the "Hotel of Doom," "Phantom Hotel," and "Phantom Pyramid." 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 16 years.


Recent Development -

The basic structure is complete, but no windows, fixtures, or fittings were installed when construction came to a halt in 1992, and it has never been certified safe for occupancy. The concrete originally used to build the hotel was of substandard quality, and at one point, according to ABC News, it was actually crumbling.The hotel is so massive that it is clearly visible from nearly everywhere in the city, but it is nearly impossible to get anyone to talk about it. It is often seen as a metaphor of the highly secretive nature of North Korea. Former CNN reporter Mike Chinoy likened it to the giant calcium deposit on the neck of late dictator Kim Il-sung. Like the Ryugyong, the growth was clearly visible despite official attempts to hide it from view. Esquire called the hotel a colossal economic failure, likening it to what would have happened had Chicago's John Hancock Center been left unfinished with no prospect of being completed.

After 16 years of inactivity, foreign residents in Pyongyang noted that Egypt's Orascom Group started refurbishing the top floors of the hotel in April 2008. Though the effect on the architecture has yet to be determined, windows and telecommunications antennae were observed being installed. The Orascom Telecom subsidiary of the group confirmed involvement in the structure to begin developing GSM infrastructure in North Korea for up to 100,000 initial subscribers. Only government officials are presently permitted to use mobile phones and the service has been banned from use by ordinary citizens and foreigners since 2002.