Arch of Triumph

Pyongyang's Arch of Triumph was completed in 1982 to mark Kim Il-sung's 70th birthday, and was deliberately built three metres taller than its Parisian counterpart — at 60 metres, it is the tallest triumphal arch in the world. It stands at the foot of Moran Hill along Chilsongmun Street, commemorating Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. The structure is clad in white granite across 25,500 individual blocks, a figure said to symbolise the number of days Kim Il-sung lived before liberation. For visitors arriving on state-sanctioned tours, it is one of the few accessible vantage points offering views over Pyongyang's vast ceremonial boulevards.