Abandoned hotel

1987, the North Korean leader proposed to build a super-high-rise hotel in Pyongyang, the capital. As soon as the news came out, it attracted widespread international attention.

But why suddenly build a super high-rise hotel? Some people say that North Korea is secretly "competing" with South Korea.

In fact, as early as the Cold War, not only the western countries and the Soviet Union were in a state of confrontation, but also the relations between North Korea and South Korea tended to be tense.

So in some ways, North Korea does not want to lose to South Korea.

It is reported that the Westin Stamford Hotel was built in Singapore in 1986, which was the tallest hotel in the world at that time and once caused international shock.

So North Korea can't sit still. They are determined to build a super-high-rise hotel in the capital, and claim to surpass South Korea and become the tallest and largest hotel in the world.

Many people's impression of North Korea is that the country is poor and the infrastructure is poor.

But in fact, North Korea's urban construction has developed rapidly in recent decades, and high-rise buildings in the capital Pyongyang can be seen everywhere, which makes people feel very modern.

The super-high hotel mentioned above is a pyramid-shaped high-rise building called Liu Jing Hotel.

This hotel is the tallest building in North Korea at present, so it is very dazzling in the capital Pyongyang.

But this hotel has been built for decades now, but it is still not open to the public. Some people say it may not be built yet, while others say there are other mysteries in it.

At that time, the North Korean government attached great importance to the construction project of Liu Jing Hotel. Before the official construction, they silently added the Liu Jing Hotel to the map and issued a series of stamps and badges around the Liu Jing Hotel.

But why is it called "Liu Jing" Hotel? It is reported that "Liu Jing" was once the old name of Pyongyang, the capital, and was named after its retro sculpture.

At that time, the North Korean government decided to turn it into a "giant pyramid hotel", with a height of 105 floor, 80 elevators, more than 3,000 rooms and more than 6,000 beds.

It is worth noting that the actual height of Liu Jing Hotel is 330m, which is twice that of pyramid of khufu, the largest hotel in the world. It's hard to keep a low profile.

After all, in the 1980s, there were only a handful of countries that could build such a "behemoth", and they had extremely high requirements in terms of technology and capital.

In the end, the estimated total investment of this hotel reached 750 million US dollars, which is almost 2% of North Korea's domestic GDP 1980!

At this time, we can't help wondering, it is reasonable to say that North Korea couldn't come up with so much money at that time, so can the hotel still operate normally?

Yes, North Korea didn't invest in hotels because of the shortage of funds.

Later, they wanted to set up a company to attract foreign investment, so they set up an investment company called Liu Jing Hotel.

In order to raise construction funds, the North Korean government relaxed the supervision system almost indefinitely.

With some investment funds, North China began to collect the design appearance of construction company, and the final plan was to turn it into a hotel with pyramid appearance.

Its structure consists of three identical triangular buildings. From any angle, Liu Jing Hotel looks like a huge pyramid.

Some people even claim that this is to show respect for the sacred mountain of North Korea-Baitou Mountain (shaped like a pyramid).

A few months later, Liu Jing Hotel officially started construction, but the funds raised before were far from enough, and the building materials of the hotel became the main problem.

Therefore, the main project of the hotel took four or five years to complete.

At this moment, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, North Korea's largest investor, also means that they will lose the support of the "golden owners".

Without the protection of the big brother of the Soviet Union, North Korea had to spend all its domestic economy on expanding its military and developing nuclear weapons, so Liu Jing Hotel announced an indefinite extension after the main project was completed.

After 1993, the building was completely cut off. Since then, Liu Jing Hotel has become the largest unfinished building in the world.

In the following decades, the world's largest unfinished building has been idle, and even the windows have not been installed, let alone the glass curtain wall and interior decoration.

From a distance, this is a huge building, and the concrete is empty. You can even see the rusty construction cranes on the roof.

It is worth mentioning that such giant buildings are generally made of steel structures, which are not only light in weight, but also resistant and stable, and can be said to be one of the necessary choices for super high-rise buildings.

Unfortunately, North Korea's own industrial development is poor and its steel output is low, so it can't produce this kind of construction steel at all, and it can only rely on foreign imports.

In order to save costs, North Korea uses reinforced concrete as an alternative material for steel.

Although this kind of concrete has certain durability, it is relatively heavy and not suitable for super high-rise buildings.

As we said before, the estimated height of Liu Jing Hotel is 330 meters.

In order to maintain the stability of the whole building, the designer made it into a mosaic structure of three triangular buildings.

Nevertheless, the foundation of the building has sunk due to the problem of building materials.

At that time, inter-Korean relations eased, and the North Korean government invited South Korean representatives to analyze the collapse of the building, and was finally told that there were serious problems in the foundation of Liu Jing Hotel, which was almost difficult to repair.

North Korea banned the building and sent troops to guard it to prevent all personnel from entering and leaving.

They also cleared the search and location information on the map. Even if you travel to North Korea, when you pass by the Liu Jing Hotel, no tour guide will introduce you to the relevant information.

In a blink of an eye, 20 years have passed, and in 2008, Liu Jing Hotel ushered in good news, that is, to get new investment again!

It is reported that the North Korean government and Egyptian telecom and construction giant Eiras Kang have formally reached an agreement to invest in the construction of 3G signal network in North Korea.

This was a rebirth for North Korea at that time! It turns out that this hotel will also undertake the maintenance of Liu Jing Hotel.

For an Egyptian company, it seems that everything is reasonable to build a pyramid. After all, no one else took over.

So in 2009, the Egyptian company re-analyzed the Liu Jing Hotel, and later claimed that the problem was not serious and could be solved.

Then they began to install all kinds of glass curtain walls outside the building, install elevators inside and design a revolving restaurant on the top floor.

But later, the group found that the cost of the project was high, but the return was very small.

The reason is that the North Korean government has implemented a closed foreign policy, which has caused the tourism industry to be frustrated, and the construction and operation costs of hotels have always been a problem.

In 20 12, a North Korean tourism company disclosed the internal details of Liu Jing Hotel, only to find that the whole building had no decoration or furniture.

Not only that, it's a mess, full of construction tools and waste, which is far from the luxury hotel that was originally planned to be built.

Later, it was discovered that the new "owner" of Liu Jing Hotel had already withdrawn!

The reason is actually very simple. At that time, Eiras Kang made numerous profits by occupying the telecommunications market in North Korea, but the foreign exchange policy of North Korea became more and more strict.

The money earned by Egyptian companies in North Korea cannot be transferred and can only be used in North Korea. Gradually, they couldn't hold on, so they decided to leave the North Korean market completely, together with their previous investment in Liu Jing hotels.

The time has come to 20 12, and the hotel construction in Liu Jing is once again in reverse!

As North Korea slowly opens to the outside world, Kempinski Group, a world-famous hotel operator, smells a little business opportunity.

So they decided to take over the previously shelved Liu Jing hotel construction project and promised to complete the next interior decoration.

And plans to build the first international luxury five-star hotel in North Korea next year.

That's easy to say, but the actual situation is very complicated.

After a long period of communication, representatives of Kempinski Group and the North Korean government found that the construction plan of Liu Jing Hotel was restricted by many policies, so they gave up the reconstruction plan.

Since then, the Liu Jing Hotel has been put on hold again.

However, the North Korean government seems to have become accustomed to this for a long time, and they will still send invitations to foreign companies.

Finally, on 20 16, the familiar Egyptian company Eiras Kang appeared in front of our eyes again.

It turns out that they intend to get back the foreign exchange in the North Korean market, which is as high as 690 million US dollars.

However, due to various reasons, Eiras Kang decided to use part of the funds to decorate the Liu Jing Hotel.

At this time, the eagle-eyed people found that the Liu Jing Hotel really began to decorate! Since then, photos with traces of interior decoration have come out!

After two years, I came to 20 18. At this time, the LCD screen has been installed on the outer wall of the pyramid of Liu Jing Hotel.

You can even see circular advertisements and various light shows. At this moment, Liu Jing Hotel finally has a "modern" appearance.

Nevertheless, the Liu Jing Hotel remains mysterious.

Many tourists who come to Pyongyang, North Korea, find that what they see is only a huge building with a blue glass curtain wall, and what it looks like inside is always a mystery.

At this time, the Liu Jing Hotel is far from being officially completed. It is said that in order to attract foreign investment, the North Korean government has specially created a gray industry.

North Koreans are not allowed to enter or leave these entertainment places.

However, because North Korea is sometimes closed and sometimes open, no one knows what the situation is, and the real opening time of Liu Jing Hotel has never been announced.

Besides being criticized for three stops, the architectural structure of Liu Jing Hotel is also controversial.

Finally, 10 1 floor was built, with a total height of only 334 meters, which did not exist in the giant buildings of the same period.

In addition, its foundation settlement and inferior concrete materials also make Liu Jing Hotel widely criticized.

A professor of architecture in South Korea once said that the design of the hotel is too bad, and it only pursues blindly huge and ignores the architectural beauty.

In 2005, an Italian magazine held a "Architecture and Geopolitics" design competition. The Liu Jing Hotel was "plastered" with billboards by designers, and finally "tied" to a rocket and rose into space. Many people also call it "Doomsday Hotel".

In fact, the three opening and three stopping events of Liu Jing Hotel are not only the construction process of a building, but also reflect the history of a country's rise and fall for many years.

Although the huge Liu Jing Hotel finally arrived late, it did not affect its becoming a landmark building in Pyongyang, North Korea.

It's very dazzling at night. From a distance, it seems to be a magnificent pyramid-shaped building, which lasted nearly 30 years from the beginning to the final completion.

However, the North Korean government claims that it is obviously impossible to become the highest ambition in the world. After all, another tall building in neighboring South Korea broke the height record of Liu Jing Hotel.

Today, Pyongyang has the largest subway in the world, such as the deepest subway in the world, with 16 stations, which is said to be comparable to the underground subway in Moscow.

In addition, Pyongyang is one of the cities with the largest green area in the world. Walking here, you will find flower beds and lawns everywhere.

Combined with the high-rise buildings nearby, you will realize that North Korea no longer needs to build more buildings to prove its strength.