Ryugyong Hotel

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The Ryugyong Hotel is a giant pyramid-shaped skyscraper in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. At 330 metres tall, it is the tallest building in the country and towers over the rest of the city's skyline. Its name means "capital of willows", which is an old name for Pyongyang.

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At a glance

Country: North Korea
Location: Pyongyang, North Korea
Built: 1987–
Height: 330 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Ryugyong Hotel?

Ryugyong Hotel is in Pyongyang, North Korea.

How tall is Ryugyong Hotel?

Ryugyong Hotel is about 330 m tall.

A 330 m pyramid-shaped skyscraper in Pyongyang that has remained unfinished for decades.

Building work started in 1987. The plan was a grand hotel with thousands of rooms and revolving restaurants near the top, and if it had opened on time, it would have been the tallest hotel in the world. Instead, work stopped in 1992 and the bare concrete shell stood empty for 16 years. Its glass outside was finished in 2011, but the building has still never welcomed a single guest, which has made it one of the world's most famous unfinished buildings.

History

The North Korean company Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers began the tower in 1987. By 1992 it had reached its full height, but North Korea fell into an economic crisis after the Soviet Union, an important partner, broke up, and work stopped. For years the windowless shell stood over the city with a rusting crane on top. Foreign newspapers gave it nicknames such as the "Hotel of Doom", and North Korean officials even edited it out of official photographs and left it off printed maps of Pyongyang.

A new look

In 2008 an Egyptian company, Orascom, started work again. The old crane was finally removed, and workers covered the concrete with glass and metal panels, finishing the outside in 2011. A European hotel company announced in 2012 that part of the hotel would open the next year, but those plans were dropped in 2013. In 2018 a huge display of LED lights was fitted to one side of the tower. At night it shows animations, slogans and images, turning the building into a giant screen.

Its unusual shape

The building has three wings, each about 100 metres long and 18 metres wide. They lean inward at an angle of 75 degrees and meet at a point, like a three-sided pyramid. On top sits a cone 40 metres wide with eight floors that were designed to rotate, and six more floors above them that stay still. Different sources say the hotel was meant to have either 3,000 or 7,665 guest rooms.

Fun facts

Construction began in 1987, and it has never opened to guests.
Had it opened on time, it would have been the tallest hotel in the world.
For years, North Korean officials edited the unfinished tower out of official photos.
Eight floors in the cone at the top were designed to turn slowly, like a revolving restaurant.
Glass and metal panels for the outside cost about 180 million US dollars.
Its name, "capital of willows", comes from an old name for Pyongyang.