Architecture for the Masses by Koryo Tours

CONTENTS
pg. 5 Introduction to the Magazine
pg. 7 About Architecture in NK
pg. 11 Political Spaces and Monuments
pg. 19 Major Cultural Establishments
pg. 35 Education and Culture
pg. 45 Sports and Health
pg. 55 Museums and Transport
pg. 65 Korean Architecture Before 1945
pg. 73 About the Architecture Tour
pg. 75 Itinerary and Highlights
pg. 77 About Koryo Tours
www.koryogroup.com pg.3

INTRODUCTION
Pyongyang’s architecture is one of the DPRK’s highlights. In any socialist regim
e,
architecture plays a key part in the process of building up a new
reality following
revolutionary events. The total destruction of Pyongyang during the
Korean W
ar gave Korean architects and interior designers a clean slate from
which to build a perfect socialist capital anew, and they seized upon that
opportunity with relish. This m
agazine features m
any of the DPRK’s architectural
highlights. All of these are included in our special Architecture Tour, which will be
led by Soviet cultural historian Dr. Daniel Levitsky.

ABOUT ARCHITECTURE
IN NORTH KOREA
>>

Pyongyang’s broad streets, its larger-than-life
socialist-realist monuments glorifying the leader-
ship, Korean soldiers and workers, its monumental
socialist housing projects, and its plentiful, mass
cultural and sporting facilities make it a true
monument to the achievements of socialism.
Pyongyang is a capital where every North Korean
can feel truly modern, socialist, and proud – the
architecture speaks the language of socialism and
progress to all its citizens as they go about their
lives. It provides a complete backdrop for their daily
routines.
Whether they are commuting to work on the splen-
did Metro system, travelling on the modern trol-
leybus and tram systems down the broad highways,
taking part in socialist work in shops, factories or
museums, indulging in evening cultural activity
such as watching a film in one of Pyongyang’s grand
socialist cinemas, or engaging in sporting activity
or gymnastics practice in one of its colossal stadia,
Pyongyang provides the means for them to carry out
their tasks in grandiose, inspiring surroundings.
Pyongyang is a city in which it is impossible to miss
the modernity, progressive vision, and tremendous
organisation of the North Korean socialist system.
Its socialist-realist monuments and buildings liter-
ally speak to all of the incredible achievements since
independence from the Japanese and total destruc-
tion during the Korean War. Every building has a so-
cial purpose, every building is state-owned and run,
and every building is to be used by Koreans to better
themselves physically or mentally, and to become at
one with their labour and with their socialist leisure.
The rise of Pyongyang from the dust of the Korean
War symbolises a new, revolutionary era in Ko-
rean history and culture, and the speed at which
the buildings have been built, together with their
ultra-modern style, gives a sense of dynamism and
instantaneous progress towards the attainment of a
socialist future defined by perfection and harmony.
Its monuments and seemingly identical buildings
are not meant merely as staid, static embodiments
of Korean socialism, but are meant as interactive
monuments through which Koreans living in Pyong-
yang can sense the power of socialism, and can feel
justifiable pride in the achievements of their revolu-
tionary forebears, immortalised in the many remark-
able monumental socialist-realist statues around the
city.
Pyongyang’s city plan and architecture not only pro-
vide an insight into the mindset of its citizens and
the structure of their daily lives; they also provide
a visual story of the remarkable reconstruction of
North Korea since 1945, and especially since 1953. It
is surely one of the best examples of the progression
of socialist architecture over the past 60 years.
ABOUT ARCHITECTURE IN THE DPRK (NORTH KOREA)

POLITICAL SPACES
AND MONUMENTS
>>

Kim Il Sung Square - the centre of post-war Pyongyang, constructed
in the mid-1950s. Laid out in the style of many post-war Soviet
squares, this area is the political focal point of the DPRK, playing
host to all of the country’s most important military parades and
mass rallies.

Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun, built in 1977. This building originally functioned as Kim Il Sung’s
seat of government, and is now his mausoleum, as well as that of his son. This is one of Pyongyang’s grand-
est buildings and one which exemplifies the growing importance of the Kim cult in Pyongyang architecture
during the 1970s. Set in huge, extremely well-kept grounds and built in an austere, impressive neoclassical
style, it is lavishly constructed with gold fittings and marble-clad rooms displaying medals, photographs
and, of course, the embalmed bodies of North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The latter was
placed here following his death in 2011.

The iconic Tower of the Juche Idea, unveiled in 1982 as the ultimate architectural celebration of Juche
ideology, and erected to mark Kim Il Sung’s 70th birthday.
Party Foundation Monument, completed in 1995 as a definitive sign of the Party’s power and prestige, its
giant hammer, sickle and intellectual’s brush reaching for the skies in a symbol of triumph and unity. It was
erected to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean Workers’ Party.

MAJOR CULTURAL
ESTABLISHMENTS
>>

A growing number of grand political and cultural cen-
tres were built and opened around central Pyongyang
in the 1970s and 80s. The earlier of these consisted
mainly of a combination of a simplified, streamlined
version of late Stalinist neo-classicism with some mi-
nor nods to Korean culture in small elements of their
design, and features of 1960s and 70s Soviet modern-
ism. They thus preserve the immense grandiosity and
austerity, as well as the colonnaded facades, broad
entrance areas, and enormous foyers of typical socialist
public buildings of the post-war era.
The two best examples of these types of buildings are
the April 25 House of Culture (1975) and the
Mansudae Art Theatre (1976). The latter contains a
huge revolving stage, together with enormous chan-
deliered rooms and revolutionary frescoes on its huge
walls, and is set alongside huge, landscaped grounds
complete with fountains, grand paths and stairways.
Later examples of Pyongyang cultural centres show
the progression during the 1980s to a more post-
modernist, almost international style of construction
and decoration. These buildings use more glass and
plainer facades, and lose the neoclassical elements of
previous buildings, achieving a lighter, more dynamic
look, rather like some Soviet public buildings of the late
1970s and 80s.
Mansudae Art Theatre

Fountain park in front of Mansudae Art Theatre (1976)
This park is very much the yawning plaza of the socialist monumental city, a place where locals can stroll
and have their wedding photo taken, and one which provides an uplifting introduction to the theatre itself,
turning the whole area into a kind of planned artistic complex, one which is modern and liberating.

An image showing the plans for
the construction of the Koryo
Hotel and an image of the hotel
today (insert).
Pyongyang hotels often feature on
graphics depicting the city.

These images show the 105-storey pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel. Construction of this hotel began in
the late 1980s, and was stalled until 2008, when work recommenced. The façade has recently been
completed, and the interior is still being worked on.

These images show the Yanggakdo Hotel, which was opened in 1995. This building features striking in-
ternationalist design. At 47 storeys, it is the second tallest building in the DPRK, built in a light, airy style
with copious use of glass and light materials, and offering a spectacular view of the city from its revolv-
ing restaurant on the top floor.

The original interior of the Taedonggang Diplomatic Club bar, designed in the 1980s.

In order to be a good Korean socialist, it was impor-
tant not only to live in a monumental, grandiose city
and to attend similarly grandiose cultural perfor-
mances, but also to be educated in the socialist way
of living, as well as to become literate and numerate.
Many notable buildings designed in Pyongyang since
independence aimed to tackle the widespread illiter-
acy and political ignorance which the Japanese left in
their wake. Following independence, Korean socialist
leaders set about putting in place institutions which
would rapidly build up Pyongyang citizens’ level of
literary, as well as their cultural and political aptitude.
The first post-independence task was to create a
new, educated class of socialist leaders and techno-
crats, and to that end construction of Kim Il Sung Uni-
versity began immediately after independence under
Soviet guidance, the main building being constructed
between 1946 and 1948 in grand neoclassical Stalin-
ist style.

The campus and buildings of the university provide
an excellent example of the progression of Pyong-
yang’s architecture, running the full gauntlet from
post-war neoclassicism through to 1980s high rise
brutalism, and finally to a light, modern two storey
glass-ceilinged swimming pool completed in 2009.

This image, as well as the one on the previous page, shows the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace,
opened in 1989 and featuring one of the most striking post-modern designs in the city. Situated on the
edge of the Kwangbok residential district constructed for the Youth Festival of 1989, this building dominates
the area and consists of a huge semi-circular front, representing the enveloping arms of a loving, nurturing
mother. It features copious use of glass and modernist curves, flanked by full-length murals depicting tri-
umphant Korean socialist youth gazing ecstatically into the future. This building has a large outer courtyard,
complete with fountains and landscaped garden, as well as impressive interior spaces and an imposing
entrance hall with marble columns, circular terraces and long, modernist ceiling lights. The similarity to late
Soviet architecture will not be missed by those who have travelled in the former Soviet Union.
1980s

The Korean Workers’ Party’s continued attempts to inculcate socialist values into its young population in
the 1980s began with the Grand People’s Study House (1982). This building represents a bold attempt
to bring learning, reading and socialist consciousness to the heart of the Korean capital in the form of an
enormous building combining late socialist grandiosity with traditional Korean style, the latter very much in
evidence in its landmark green roof. This huge 10-storey building features a grand central atrium, as well as
numerous lecture halls and unique architectural features. Its huge balcony commands a wonderful view of
Kim Il Sung Square and its impressive symmetrical design. From here one can see the heavy neo-classicism
of the government buildings which surround the square, and also get a sense of the axis across the Tae-
dong river stretching to the iconic Juche Tower on the opposite bank.

Another important aspect of becoming socialist was an emphasis on physical
wellbeing and discipline, in order to ensure health in mind and body and to be-
come ‘at one’ with manual work and the demands of socialist production.

One of Pyongyang’s most distinctive buildings is its unique Ice Rink, completed in 1981. This building,
shown above, consists of a conical modernist structure designed to resemble a skater’s cap, and features
four tiers of seats around its perimeter.

This image shows the swimming pool at the
Changwang Health Complex, one of Pyongyang’s
premiere centres for sports and health. It was
constructed between 1981 and 1986.

One of the city’s largest structures is the
magnificent May Day Stadium.
This was completed in 1989 and consists
of 16 arched glass roofs, allowing the
building to resemble a flower blooming
or a parachute which has just landed.
This is where the spectacular Mass
Games performances are held each year
between July and October. The stadium
seats an incredible 150,000 spectators,
and its stage can easily accommodate
100,000 performers.
www.koryogro pg.53

Museums were primary tools for the transmission of the revolutionary message to the Korean people,
as well as to foreign visitors. Pyongyang’s museums were designed as centres where Koreans would
learn not only about their own history and society but, crucially, how to think about it. The buildings
themselves, always imposing and often brutalist in their style, as well as massive in their scale, empha-
sise the importance of the information being imparted, and their layout and display arrangements are
meant to lead to certain specific understandings and conceptualisations of events and history.

Pyongyang’s premier historical museum, the Victorious Fatherland
Liberation War Museum, was opened in 1974 and preserves its
austere, grandiose exterior and huge exposition halls. These feature
a mixture of original wood panelling and marble, as well as one of
the DPRK’s most memorable dioramas, set in a raised circular view-
ing platform in the centre of the building. The museum is replete
with socialist-realist paintings and designs depicting the story of this
pivotal war.

These images show Pyongyang’s underground ‘museums’, where interior layout and displays of
revolutionary history in the socialist-realist style combine with daily practicality and socialist efficiency in
the form of the mass transportation system, the Pyongyang Metro. Its construction began in 1973. The
stations showcase grandiose design and interactive wall displays, reminiscent of the opulent interiors of
stations on the Moscow Metro built during the late-Stalin period.

Korean architecture
before 1945
>>

The beautiful Tomb of King Kongmin, the twin-domed tomb of the 31st King of the Koryo Dynasty
(918 - 1392 AD) and his wife which remained largely undamaged during the Korean War. The tomb
is situated near Kaesong city, which lies 7km from the DMZ.

The old city of Kaesong. The atmosphere here transports the traveller back to pre-socialist Korea, an era
well before the gargantuan monuments and high-rise blocks of Pyongyang were conceived.

Minsok Folk Hotel, housed in a traditional Korean set of houses arranged around courtyards,
and dating from the Li dynasty (1392 - 1910).

ARCHITECTURE TOUR
5th - 12th October 2013
COST: 1980 euros, plane in, plane out
This tour will take us to the highlights of the DPRK’s architecture, allowing us to delve into the design of the
unique modern city of Pyongyang and the beautiful traditional buildings of Kaesong. We will have access
to many buildings not usually open to tourist groups, and will listen to lectures from Korean architects and
interior designers at many of the locations we visit, learning a tremendous amount about both the func-
tions and the history of Pyongyang’s remarkable buildings. This will be both an architectural and a historical
journey through North Korea’s urban development like no other.
Highlights:
• Detailed tour of the magnificent Kim Il Sung Square and its neo-classical surround, built 1954-5
• Grand Monuments to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, built 1972, 2012
• Visit to the new residential district around Mansudae Street, with a possible visit to a flat interior
• April 25 House of Culture, built in 1975 and one of the best examples of 1970s socialist monumentality
in the city
• Moranbong Theatre, Pyongyang’s first socialist theatre, featuring classic post-war neoclassical design,
built 1946
• Exterior and interior tour of Pyongyang Grand Theatre, one of Pyongyang’s landmark buildings, built in
1960 in a mixture of modernist and traditional styles
• Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, built in a grandiose neoclassical style in 1946 for orphans of he-
roes who had perished in the anti-Japanese struggle
• Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun, built 1977. The former seat of government of Kim Il Sung and
now the mausoleum where he and his son lie on display. One of the DPRK’s most impressive neoclassi-
cal buildings
• Grand People’s Assembly Hall, built in late-socialist neoclassical style in 1984, and featuring sumptuous,
atmospheric interiors
• Pyongyang Architecture Institute, featuring fascinating paintings, plans and photographs which tell the
story of Pyongyang’s post-war reconstruction
• Chongnyon Hotel, a striking 1980s Pyongyang hotel built for the World Festival of Communist Youth and
Students, held in Pyongyang in 1989
• A full tour of the campus and buildings of Kim Il Sung University, the DPRK’s highest seat of learning,
with buildings opened between 1945 and 2009
• The iconic Ryugyong Hotel. A chance for a close-up view of the newly-completed 104-storey pyramid-
shaped hotel, incomplete for many years
• Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, opened in 1989 and featuring one of the most striking post-
modern designs in the city
• Pyongyang’s distinctive Ice Rink, completed in 1981 and consisting of a conical modernist structure
• Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, opened in 1974 and preserving its austere, grandiose
exterior and huge exposition halls
• Pyongyang International House of Cinema, built in 1989 in a striking circular style and housing three
theatres
• Pyongyang’s stunning metro stations and the brutalist Pyongyang Metro Museum, which opened in
1984
about
architecture tour

Saturday October 5th:
Arrival and Orientation
After arriving at the airport, we move to
Pyongyang’s most impressive public space, as
we begin to trace the early redevelopments
of central Pyongyang following the destruc-
tion of the Korean War. We will walk around
the grand central space of Kim Il Sung Square
(1954-5), and examine the features of the
central government buildings around it. We
will then go on walk along both Sungri Street
(formerly Stalin Street), and Chollima Street
(1953), the two earliest main post-Korean War
streets in Pyongyang, ending up on the top of
Mansu Hill at the Chollima Monument (un-
veiled in 1961). Following these visits, it will
be off to the iconic twin-towered Koryo Hotel,
Pyongyang’s first real international hotel,
built in the late socialist style in 1985. We will
check in here for the night, and have dinner in
its restaurant.
Sunday October 6th:
Political Spaces and Monuments
We will begin our first full day with a look
at many of the grand construction projects
of the 1970s and 80s, when much of the
Pyongyang’s current monumental centre took
shape. We will first spend some time at the
Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun built
in 1977 as Kim Il Sung’s seat of government
and now his mausoleum, as well as that of
his son. This is one of Pyongyang’s grandest
buildings, one which exemplifies the growing
importance of the political leadership, and
its representation, in Pyongyang architecture
during the 1970s. We will go on to view the
Grand Monuments to Kim Il Sung and Kim
Jong Il on Mansu Hill, originally built to mark
the 60th birthday of Kim Il Sung in 1972, and
recently expanded to include a statue of Kim
Jong Il in 2012. We will then move on to visit
the Tower of the Juche Idea, unveiled in 1982
as the ultimate architectural celebration of
Juche ideology, and erected to mark Kim Il
Sung’s 70th birthday. After a stop at the cel-
ebratory Arch of Triumph (1982), we will visit
one of Pyongyang’s most important political
buildings, the Grand People’s Assembly Hall,
built in late-socialist neoclassical style in 1984.
We will take a full tour of this building, seeing
not only its imposing exterior facades but also
its lavish, elegant interior spaces, perfectly
designed to communicate the importance of
the discussions held within its spacious halls
and corridors. The purpose-built, gargantuan
Kwangbok and Thongil Residential Areas will
be next on our tour; these were constructed
in 1989 and 1993 respectively. After lunch in a
local restaurant, we will move to Pyongyang’s
more contemporary revolutionary spaces,
such as the striking Victorious Fatherland
Liberation War Monument, with its superb
socialist-realist sculptures of Korean soldiers
charging into battle, as well as the equally
impressive Party Foundation Monument,
completed in 1995 as the ultimate sign of the
Korean Workers’ Party’s power and prestige.
We will also visit the Arch of Reunification
(2001), and the shining new tower blocks
and multi-storey houses of the comfortable
Mansudae Street (2009). We may be able to
arrange to view the interiors of these new
flats, a visit which would provide a fascinating
insight into daily family life in the very heart
of Pyongyang.
Monday October 7th:
Major Cultural Establishments
We will start our tour today at the end of the
Second World War and the DPRK’s liberation
from Japan, viewing the ornate neoclassical
exterior and beautifully proportioned interior
of the Moranbong Theatre (opened 1946),
situated on a hill in lush parkland at the
entrance to Moran Park. We then move on
to the period of ‘socialist design with Korean
characteristics’, visiting the Pyongyang Grand
Theatre (opened 1960), a huge statement
of socialist cultural superiority situated in
the very centre of Pyongyang. We continue
our journey examining the Korean people’s
introduction to high socialist culture with a
visit to the vast People’s Palace of Culture
(1974). After lunch in a Pyongyang restaurant,
we will look at the growing number of grand
political and cultural centres built and opened
around Pyongyang in the 1970s and 80s. The
two best examples of these are the April 25
House of Culture (1975) and the Mansudae
Art Theatre (completed 1976), both of which
we will visit, taking not only walks around the
exterior facades, but also detailed tours of the
buildings’ interiors. Staying with grandiose
political architectural statements, we will then
see the Central Youth Hall (completed 1989),
one of Pyongyang’s main centres for youth
activity and education, and hopefully see the
100-seat modernist theatre where amateur
productions are performed. We will visit and
hopefully see a performance at either the
People’s Army Circus, opened in 1964 and
constructed in a distinctive circular shape
with a domed roof, or the ultra-postmodernist
Pyongyang Circus, built in 1989 and unveiled
for May Day of that year, and consisting of
five halls each with a striking hexagonal roof.
These buildings host the country’s finest acro-
bats, and, along with the equally modernist,
glass-covered East Pyongyang Grand Theatre
(1989), which we will also see, present two of
the most dynamic designs in the city. We will
go first to the Chongnyon Hotel, built in 1989
for the World Festival of Youth and Students,
and a real Pyongyang institution. It is notable
for its striking design, combining a brutalist
high-rise building with cylindrically-shaped
low-rise sections at the front and rear. The
hotel also contains classic 1980s interiors, and
we will have a drink in its rooftop restaurant.
We will then have dinner in one of Pyong-
yang’s landmark eateries, the Okryu Restau-
rant, opened in 1961 as Pyongyang’s first
‘prestige’ mass eatery, tickets to dine at which
were available by application to any resident
of Pyongyang. After a sumptuous, traditional
Korean dinner in one of its huge mass eating
halls, all of which have beautiful views of the
river, we return to our 1980s hotel.
Tuesday October 8th:
Education and Culture
Today we will look at some of the key build-
ings designed in Pyongyang since indepen-
dence which aimed to tackle the widespread
illiteracy and political ignorance which the
Japanese left in their wake. We will first visit
Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, built
in a stately neoclassical style in 1946 for
orphans of heroes who had perished in the
anti-Japanese struggle, and featuring a bronze
monument depicting Kim Il Sung caring for
Korean orphans atop its wide staircase. We
will then move on to Pyongyang’s highest
seat of learning, Kim Il Sung University. The
campus and buildings of the university pro-
vide an excellent example of the progression
of Pyongyang’s architecture, running the full
gauntlet from post-war Stalinist neoclassicism
through to 1980s high rise brutalism, and
finally to a light, two-storey glass-ceilinged
swimming pool completed in 2009. This will
be followed by a visit to the elegant neoclas-
sical Taedongmun Cinema in central Pyong-
yang. This striking building was completed in
1955, and was one of the first socialist cin-
emas in Korea, its lavish colonnaded entrance
area and ornate sculpture work revealing
the influence of Soviet post-war design upon
1950s Pyongyang construction projects. Con-
structed in a mixture of styles which combine
simpler socialist neo-classicism with a striking
1960s modernism, the enormous Pyongyang
Schoolchildren’s Palace boasts a grand drive-
way leading up to its entrance and a welcom-
ing statue of Kim Il Sung with keen young
Korean children, as well as full length murals
depicting Korean youth in the 1960s socialist
style. After breaking for lunch, we will go on
to view the Korean Workers’ Party’s continued
attempts to inculcate socialist values into its
young population in the 1980s with a visit
to the Grand People’s Study House (1982).
We will take a full tour of this huge 10-storey
building, seeing its grand central atrium, as
well as many of its lecture halls and unique
architectural features. We will also have a
chance to see the roof (which consists of 34
separate pieces) from the huge balcony. From
this vantage point we will be able to get a
sense of the wonderfully symmetrical design
of Kim Il Sung Square, and to take in the heavy
neoclassicism of the government buildings
which surround it, as well as the axis across
the Taedong river stretching to the iconic
Juche Tower on the opposite bank. Following
our visit to this great place of learning, we
will have a chance to compare the Pyongyang
Schoolchildren’s Palace, with its 1960s de-
sign, with its counterpart further out of town
in the form of the Mangyongdae Schoolchil-
dren’s Palace, opened in 1989 and featuring
another striking post-modern piece of design.
This building dominates the area and consists
of a huge semi-circular front, representing
the enveloping arms of a loving, nurturing
mother. We will take a detailed tour of this
building’s exterior, complete with fountains
and landscaped garden, and of its impressive
interior spaces and imposing entrance hall
with marble columns, circular terraces and
long, modernist ceiling lights. Following visits
to the fascinating Mansudae Art Studio and
the Pyongyang Architecture Institute, where
we can learn much about the construction of
DPRK art and sculpture, as well as of Pyong-
yang itself, we will round off the day with a
visit to the Pyongyang International House of
Cinema on Yanggak island, also built in 1989
in a striking circular style and housing three
film theatres. This complex plays host to the
Pyongyang International Film Festival. Follow-
ing drinks in the revolving restaurant of the
nearby Yanggakdo Hotel (1995), which offers
magnificent views of Pyongyang’s skyline and
the river Taedong, we will have dinner in a
local restaurant and return to the Koryo Hotel
for the night.
Wednesday October 9th:
Sports and Health
We begin our tour with a visit to the Indoor
Stadium, completed in 1973 in a striking
mixture of neo-classical and modernist styles,
with colonnaded front façade and huge
slanting roof. We will then drop in at Pyong-
yang’s flagship health facility, the Pyongyang
Maternity Hospital, opened in 1980 and
featuring a striking late socialist brutalist
design and grand entranceway. From here
we go on to visit one of Pyongyang’s most
distinctive buildings in the form of its unique
Ice Rink, completed in 1981 and consisting
of a conical modernist structure designed
to resemble a skater’s cap.. Following lunch,
we will move on to one of Pyongyang’s most
important sports facilities, the Kim Il Sung
Stadium, opened in 1969 as the Moranbong
Stadium and substantially renovated and
renamed in 1982, and which plays host to
many of Pyongyang’s most important sport-
ing events. Staying with stadia, we will then
drop in at one of the city’s largest structures,
the magnificent May Day Stadium. This was
completed in 1989 and consists of 16 arched
glass roofs, allowing the building to resemble
a flower blooming or a parachute which has
just landed. This is where the spectacular
Mass Games performances are held each year
between July and October. The stadium seats
an incredible 150,000 spectators, and its stage
can easily accommodate 100,000 perform-
ers. Our next stop of the day is the impres-
sive sports complex (the ‘city of sports’) on
Chongchun Street. This consists of numerous
gymnasia, a football stadium, and separate
halls for numerous sports such as volleyball,
badminton, weightlifting and taekwondo. As
well as visiting these sporting facilities, we will
drop in at the Changwang Health and Recre-
ation Complex (built 1981-86). Here we will
have a chance to get a haircut in the hair sa-
lon, which preserves its complete original fur-
niture and equipment from 1981. Following
this, we will have dinner at Pyongyang’s other
long established mass access restaurant, the
Chongnyu, built in 1981 in a modernist mari-
time style. We will dine on speciality cuisine in
this restaurant, which contains sumptuous in-
terior design over its four storeys and benefits
from a beautiful riverside location.
Thursday October 10th:
Museums and Transport
We look at the transmission of the revolution-
ary message to the Korean people, as well
as to foreign visitors, in the form of muse-
ums and galleries. First on our tour is one of
Pyongyang’s oldest galleries, the Pyongyang
Art Gallery, opened in 1960 and housed in a
neo-classical building in a prestigious loca-
tion on Kim Il Sung Square. Next is a visit
to Pyongyang’s premier historical museum,
the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War
Museum, opened in 1974 and preserving
its austere, grandiose exterior and huge
exposition halls. We will then go on to visit
Pyongyang’s underground ‘museums’, where
interior layout and displays of revolutionary
history in the socialist-realist style combine
with daily practicality and socialist efficiency
in the form of the mass transportation sys-
tem, the Pyongyang Metro. We will have the
chance to explore the monumental interiors
of 3 stations on the system. Following lunch
at a local restaurant, we will continue our ex-
ploration of the merging of transport and mu-
seum imagery with an extended visit to the
brutalist Pyongyang Metro Museum, opened
in 1984. Our final stop of the day will be one
of Pyongyang’s largest and newest museum
complexes, the Three Revolutions Exhibition,
opened in 1992, and featuring highly futuristic
monuments and designs, including a planet-
shaped silver sphere, with Saturn-like rings
surrounding it, and a remarkable interactive
exhibit dedicated to the DPRK’s satellite pro-
gramme. We will then drive south to the city
of Kaesong for an exploration of the DPRK’s
pre-Korean War architecture, a journey of
2.5 hours down the (almost) dead-straight
Reunification Highway. We will stay overnight
at the delightful Minsok Folk Hotel, housed
in a traditional Korean set of houses arranged
around courtyards, and dating from the Li
dynasty. The atmosphere here will transport
you back to pre-socialist Korea, an era well be-
fore the gargantuan monuments and high-rise
blocks of Pyongyang were conceived.
Friday October 11th:
Korean Architecture before 1945
Following a traditional breakfast in the
Minsok’s charming traditional restaurant,
our first visit is to Panmunjom and the DMZ,
where North and South Korea continue their
decades- old face-off. We then drive back
into the city of Kaesong and visit the Kaesong
Koryo Museum, which is housed in a beauti-
ful old Confucian University, to learn about
the long, rich history of the building and
surrounding area. We will then have lunch in
a local restaurant in the centre of Kaesong’s
old town, before taking a guided walk around
the city’s charming old streets and court-
yards. After lunch we will ascend Janam Hill,
situated in the heart of the city, at the top of
which stands the city’s statue of President
Kim Il Sung. There is also the traditional
Kwangbok pavilion here, and the hill’s rocky
edge affords great views over the old part of
the city, as well as of the huge edifice of the
city’s more modern Schoolchildren’s Palace,
opened in 1961. We then take a 20-minute
drive to the beautiful Tomb of King Kongmin,
the twin-domed tomb of the 31st King of the
Koryo Dynasty (918 - 1392 AD) and his wife
which remained largely undamaged during
the Korean War. Following this, we return to
Pyongyang to the deluxe Potonggang Hotel.
This Pyongyang institution dates from 1973,
is located on a pretty stretch of the Potong
River, and has been thoroughly renovated
inside to the highest standard currently avail-
able in Pyongyang. Afterwards we proceed to
the excellent Duck BBQ restaurant for dinner,
before transferring to the Koryo Hotel for our
final night.
Saturday October 12th:
Departure
This morning we will transfer to Pyongyang
airport for our morning Air Koryo flight to
Beijing, where our tour will end.
Architecture
Tour itinerary

Koryo Group (Koryo Tours and Koryo Studio) is a British-run company based in Beijing specialising in DPRK
(North Korea) Travel, Cultural Exchange, Art, Film, Publications, and Merchandise. We are very proud of the
work we do in Korea and our expertise is based on the monthly visits we have made to the country since
1993.
Koryo Tours is recognised as being the only North Korea travel specialists and provide tourists and North
Koreans alike with the greatest opportunity of exchange. Our cultural projects have the support of the
British Government. We believe passionately in engagement and from the impact that our various projects
have had on the ground in Korea we need no other vindication of this approach.
At Koryo Tours we thrive on exchanging ideas to give the North Korean people the opportunities that in-
teraction brings. Whether you are simply wanting to visit the country, run a sporting event, art show, film
screening, or just want to know more then please contact us. We love a challenge and our list of achieve-
ments are testament to both our efforts and expertise as well as that of our Korean partner. This list in-
cludes; the first western documentaries filmed in the DPRK, opening up new tourist destinations, sports ex-
changes, the first ever nationwide screening of a Western feature film, the first co-production of a romantic
comedy feature film, being the first travel company to take in over 2,000 tourists a year, commissioning the
first pieces of Korean art for international exhibitions.
These all make up the first small steps to engagement.
Follow us in social media:Find us: Questions? info@koryogroup.com www.koryogroup.com Tel: (+86) 10 6416 7544

This magazine was brought to you by Koryo Tours (http://www.koryotours.com),
the world’s leading DPRK (North Korea) Travel Specialist since 1993.
info@koryogroup.com | www.koryogroup.com | +86 10 6416 7544

Architecture for the Masses by Koryo Tours

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