Juche Tower

Juche Tower

Juche Tower at night
Location	Pyongyang, North Korea
Designer	Kim Jong-il (disputed)
Material	Granite and white stone
Height	170 metres (560 ft)
Completion date	1982 (1982)
Dedicated to	Juche ideology

Juche Tower
Chosŏn'gŭl	주체사상탑
Hancha	主體思想塔
Revised Romanization	Juche Sasangtap
McCune–Reischauer	Chuch'e Sasangt'ap

The Juche Tower (more formally, Tower of the Juche Idea) is a monument in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, named after the ideology of Juche introduced by its first leader Kim Il-sung.

Background

Completed in 1982, the Tower is situated on the eastern bank of the River Taedong, directly opposite Kim Il-sung Square on the western side of the river to commemorate Kim Il-sung's 70th birthday. Although his son and successor Kim Jong-il is officially credited as its designer, interviews with former North Korean officials contradict this assertion.

The 170-metre (560 ft) structure is a four-sided tapering 150-metre (490 ft) spire – the tallest in granite – containing 25,550 blocks (365 × 70: one for each day of Kim Il-sung's life, excluding supplementary days for leap years), dressed in white stone with seventy dividers and capped with a 20-metre (66 ft)-high 45-ton illuminated metal torch. It is possible to ascend the tower by elevator and there are wide views over Pyongyang from the viewing platform just below the torch.

At its base, there are reception rooms where videos explaining the tower's ideological importance are sometimes shown. It is presumed to be modelled on the Washington Monument, which it surpasses in height by less than a meter. The Juche Tower is the second tallest monumental column in the world after the San Jacinto Monument, which is 2.9 metres (9.5 ft) taller.

Associated with the tower is a 30-metre (98 ft)-high statue consisting of three idealised figures each holding a tool – a hammer (the worker); a sickle (the peasant); and a writing brush (the "working intellectual") – in a classic communistic style reminiscent of the Soviet statue Worker and Kolkhoz Woman. The three tools form the insignia on the flag of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. There are also six smaller groups of figures, each 10 metres (33 ft) high, that symbolize other aspects of Juche ideology.

A wall carrying 82 "friendship plaques" from foreign supporters and Juche Study Groups forms part of the Tower.

Gallery

• 

  The Juche Tower seen from the roof of the Grand People's Study House, across Kim Il-sung Square and the river Taedong.

• 

  The Tower and Workers' Party monument seen up close.

• 

  View from the tower towards Kim Il-sung Square.

• Play media

  VOA report showing the elevator ride up and the view from the top.

• Tributestojuche.jpg

  Tribute Plaques to the Juche interior contained in the interior entrance of the tower.

• 

  The lower part of the Tower of Juche Idea, with symmetric buildings in the background.

See also

• Monas, a similarly designed monument-tower in Jakarta, Indonesia, topped with flame statue and elevator ride to the top observation deck.
• Washington Monument in Washington DC, an obelisk erected to commemorate George Washington.
• San Jacinto Monument near La Porte, Texas, the world's tallest masonry column to commemorate the Battle of San Jacinto.
• Monument to Party Founding
• Arch of Triumph (Pyongyang)
• Arch of Reunification

External links

• Asian Historical Architecture: Juche Tower
• 360 degree panoramic view from the top
• Google Maps satellite photo
• The Tower of the Juche Idea at Naenara