Inside North Korea

North Korea's rebuilt capital, Pyongyang, is a grand stage set designed by Kim Il Sung to be "national in form and socialist in content." Under Kim Jong Un, construction has ramped up, creating a flimsy fantasy of prosperity and using architecture as a powerful anesthetic. This collection of 200 photographs, with insightful captions, explores the lavish wonder-worlds of marble, mosaic, coffered ceilings, and crystal chandeliers, as well as new interiors in dazzling color palettes.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 27 February 2022
Publisher: Taschen GmbH

North Korea's once-grand capital, Pyongyang, was devastated by bombing during the Korean War and was entirely rebuilt from scratch from 1953, in line with the vision of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung. Designed as an imposing stage set, it is a place of grand axial boulevards linking gargantuan monuments, lined with stately piles of distinctly Korean flavor, to be "national in form and socialist in content."

Under the present leader, Kim Jong Un, construction has ramped up apace, with the slogan, "Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland." He is rapidly transforming Pyongyang into a playground, conjuring a flimsy fantasy of prosperity and using architecture as a powerful anesthetic, numbing the population from the stark reality of his authoritarian regime.

Guardian journalist and photographer Oliver Wainwright takes us on an eye-opening tour behind closed doors in the most secretive country in the world, revealing that past the grand stone façades lie lavish wonder-worlds of marble and mosaic, coffered ceilings, and crystal chandeliers, along with new interiors in dazzling color palettes.

Discover the palatial reading rooms of the Grand Peoples Study House and peer inside the locker rooms of the recently renovated Rungrado May Day Stadium, ready to host a FIFA World Cup that will never come.

This collection features about 200 photographs with insightful captions, as well as an introductory essay where Wainwright charts the history and development of Pyongyang, explaining how the architecture and interiors embody the national "Juche" ideology and questioning what the future holds for the architectural ambitions of this enigmatic country.

Weight: 1560g
Dimension: 283 x 212 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783836572217
Edition number: Multilingual ed