The Shard Vs The Ryugyong
Posted: August 21st, 2011 | No Comments »This is quite funny and a legitimate chance to plug the excellent Koryo Tours for anyone thinking of heading to North Korea on holiday – don’t even think of going with anyone else.
Aahh, the dear old Ryugyong Hotel – how many of us have stayed in the rather run down Koryo Hotel or the leper colony island that is the Yanggakdo Hotel and dreamt that one day North Korea would finally finish the Ryugyong and we could stay in what would obviously be Pyongang’s coolest hotel, though hardly boutique I must admit!
Some more Ryugyong and Shard facts from the team at Koryo in Beijing:
The Ryugyong was designed in 1987 and is an exaggerated pyramid shape covered in glass. The Shard was designed in  2000 to look like a shard (umm or an exaggerated pyramid shape covered in glass)
Ryugyong hotel to be completed in 2012 (at least on the outside) Â – Shard to be completed in May 2012
Ryugyong has 105 storeys  the Shard has 72 useable floors (15 additional radiator floors)
Ryugyong is the 39th tallest building in the world , the Shard is the 45th tallest building in the world.
Permission to build the Ryugyong hotel was granted by North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, Development  plans for the Shard were opposed by local authorities and heritage bodies but in 2003 British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (the supposed arbiter of good taste) announced that construction had been approved.
The Ryugyong has a lift travelling up the outside edge of the building. The Shard (pathetically!) does not.
The Ryugyong has 5 revolving restaurants. The Shard has a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck on the top (72nd) floor.
In 2008 Ryugyong Hotel project was restarted with investment from an Egyptian company Orascom. In January 2008, it was announced that a consortium of Qatari investors had paid £150m to secure an 80% stake in the Shard.
So, wanna go DPRK?
then go with Koryo
info@koryogroup.com
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