柳京飯店:朝鮮“末日飯店”的故事

柳京飯店:朝鮮“末日飯店”的故事

In 1987, ground was broken on a grand hotel in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. The pyramid-shaped, supertall skyscraper was to exceed 1,000 feet in height, and was designed to house at least 3,000 rooms, as well as five revolving restaurants with panoramic views.

1987年，朝鮮首都平壤的一家大酒店破土動工。這座金字塔形的超高層摩天大樓的高度將超過1000英尺(約為1.6萬米)，至少容納3000個房間，以及5家可看到全景的旋轉(zhuǎn)餐廳。

The Ryugyong Hotel -- named after a historical moniker for Pyongyang meaning "capital of willows" -- was supposed to open just two years later. But it never did.

柳京飯店原計劃僅在兩年后開業(yè)。柳京飯店以平壤的一個歷史綽號命名，意思是“柳樹之都”。但它從來沒有這樣做過。

A Cold War pawn

一顆冷戰(zhàn)的棋子

The Ryugyong Hotel was a product of the Cold War rivalry between US-supported South Korea and the Soviet-backed North. The year before construction commenced, a South Korean firm had built what was then the world's tallest hotel, the Westin Stamford in Singapore. The South's capital Seoul was meanwhile getting ready to host the 1988 Summer Olympics, with the country transitioning to a capitalist democracy.

柳京飯店是美國支持的韓國和蘇聯(lián)支持的朝鮮之間冷戰(zhàn)對抗的產(chǎn)物。在動工的前一年，一家韓國公司在新加坡建造了當時世界上最高的酒店——威斯汀斯坦福德酒店。與此同時，韓國首都首爾正在為1988年夏季奧運會做準備，韓國正在向資本主義民主國家過渡。

As part of North Korea's political response to the South's achievements, Pyongyang organized the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students, a sort of socialist version of the Olympics. The country planned to build the massive hotel just in time for the event, stealing the world record away from the South.

作為朝鮮對韓國成就的政治回應的一部分，平壤組織了1989年世界青年和學生節(jié)(World Festival of Youth and Students)，這是一種社會主義版的奧運會。朝鮮計劃在這期間建造一座大型酒店，打破了韓國的世界紀錄。

The building consists of three wings, each sloped at a 75-degree angle, converging into a cone , the top 15 floors intended for restaurants and observation decks.

該建筑由三個翼組成，每個翼都以75度的角度傾斜，匯聚成一個錐狀體，上面15層用作餐廳和觀景臺。

The pyramidal shape is about more than aesthetics -- it's because the Ryugyong, unusually for a skyscraper, is made of reinforced concrete rather than steel.

金字塔的形狀不僅僅是為了美觀——這是因為柳京飯店是由鋼筋混凝土而非鋼材建成的，這在摩天大樓中是很少見的。

In 2008, after a 16-year pause, construction unexpectedly resumed, as part of a deal with Orascom, an Egyptian conglomerate that was contracted to build North Korea's 3G network.

2008年，在停頓了16年之后，作為與埃及企業(yè)集團Orascom達成的協(xié)議的一部分，建筑意外地恢復了建設，Orascom是一家埃及企業(yè)集團，承建朝鮮的3G網(wǎng)絡。

The rusty old crane that had stood atop the building for two decades was finally removed. Workers aided by Egyptian engineers installed glass and metal panels to the concrete structure at the cost of $180 million, glazing it completely and giving the building a polished appearance.

那臺生銹的老吊車在那座建筑物的頂上停了二十年，終于被拆除了。在埃及工程師的幫助下，工人們花了1.8億美元在混凝土結(jié)構(gòu)上安裝了玻璃和金屬板，對其進行了徹底的玻璃化處理，使建筑呈現(xiàn)出光滑的外觀。

The project, completed in 2011, fueled speculation about the hotel's opening. In late 2012, German luxury hotel group Kempinski announced that the Ryugyong would partially open under its management in mid-2013, but then pulled out a few months later, stating that entering the market was "not currently possible."

該項目于2011年完工，引發(fā)了人們對該飯店開業(yè)的猜測。2012年末，德國豪華酒店集團凱賓斯基宣布，柳京酒店將于2013年年中在其管理下部分開業(yè)，但幾個月后又宣布退出，稱“目前不可能”進入這個市場。