Ryugyong Hotel
The Ryugyong Hotel is a towering, 105-story, 330 m (1,083 ft) empty concrete shell in Pyongyang, North Korea. If the building ever was completed it would be considered the world's largest hotel, and one of the tallest buildings in the world. Today however, the building remains uninhabited and unfinished.
The North Koreans began constructing the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel in 1987, reportedly aiming for 105 stories to beat out a structure the South Koreans were building in Singapore. The building was to contain 3,000 rooms and 7 revolving restaurants. The estimated cost of building it ran upwards of $750 million – 2% of North Korea's GDP. It's generally assumed construction came to a halt in 1992 because North Korea was suffering from famine, acute electricity shortages, and lack of necessary funding. The basic structure is complete, but no windows, fixtures or fittings have been installed. According to , the concrete used in building the Ryugyong Hotel is of unsuitable quality and therefore is unsafe - it cannot therefore be completed as currently built. Some question the logic of building such a massive hotel, given that the number of tourists in North Korea remain small. Pyongyang's few existing hotels remain to this day, by far sufficient. The 360,000 m² (3.9 million ft²) concrete structure continues to dominate Pyongyang's skyline.
The North Korean government is said to try to attract foreign investors to complete the build.
See also
