Arch of Triumph (Pyongyang)
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- This article is about the monument in Pyongyang, North Korea . For other uses, see Arch of Triumph.
| Arch of Triumph | |
|---|---|
| Chosŏn'gŭl: |
개선문
|
| Hanja: | |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Kaesŏnmun |
| Revised Romanization: | Gaeseonmun |
The Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang was built to commemorate the Korean resistance to Japan from 1925 to 1945.
Built in 1982 on the Triumph Return Square at the foot of Moran Hill (모란봉) in the North Korean capital city of Pyongyang, the monument was built to honour and glorify President Kim Il Sung's role in the resistance against Japanese rule. It is located at .
The structure is modelled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It is the largest arch in the world, standing sixty metres high and fifty metres wide, and was deliberately built to be larger than the one in Paris (51 meters high and 45 meters wide). The Arch of Triumph is a stone edifice piled up with over 10,500 pieces of finely-dressed white granite. The arch has dozens of rooms, balustrades, observation platforms and elevators. It also has four vaulted gateways, each twenty-seven metres high, decorated with azalea carved in their girth. Inscribed in the Arch is the "Song of General Kim Il Sung", a revolutionary hymn, and the year 1925, when North Korean history states that Kim set out on the journey for national liberation and the year 1945, the end of World War II, which ended the Japanese occupation.
The Arch is always a part of official North Korean tours for tourists and visitors.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Korean Central News Agency of DPRK. link – last accessed on January 19, 2006.
