柳京饭店:朝鲜“末日饭店”的故事

柳京饭店:朝鲜“末日饭店”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，朝鲜首都平壤的一家大酒店破土动工。这座金字塔形的超高层摩天大楼的高度将超过1000英尺(约为1.6万米)，至少容纳3000个房间，以及5家可看到全景的旋转餐厅。

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.

柳京饭店原计划仅在两年后开业。柳京饭店以平壤的一个历史绰号命名，意思是“柳树之都”。但它从来没有这样做过。

A Cold War pawn

一颗冷战的棋子

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.

柳京饭店是美国支持的韩国和苏联支持的朝鲜之间冷战对抗的产物。在动工的前一年，一家韩国公司在新加坡建造了当时世界上最高的酒店——威斯汀斯坦福德酒店。与此同时，韩国首都首尔正在为1988年夏季奥运会做准备，韩国正在向资本主义民主国家过渡。

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.

作为朝鲜对韩国成就的政治回应的一部分，平壤组织了1989年世界青年和学生节(World Festival of Youth and Students)，这是一种社会主义版的奥运会。朝鲜计划在这期间建造一座大型酒店，打破了韩国的世界纪录。

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.

该建筑由三个翼组成，每个翼都以75度的角度倾斜，汇聚成一个锥状体，上面15层用作餐厅和观景台。

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.

金字塔的形状不仅仅是为了美观——这是因为柳京饭店是由钢筋混凝土而非钢材建成的，这在摩天大楼中是很少见的。

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，在停顿了16年之后，作为与埃及企业集团Orascom达成的协议的一部分，建筑意外地恢复了建设，Orascom是一家埃及企业集团，承建朝鲜的3G网络。

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.

那台生锈的老吊车在那座建筑物的顶上停了二十年，终于被拆除了。在埃及工程师的帮助下，工人们花了1.8亿美元在混凝土结构上安装了玻璃和金属板，对其进行了彻底的玻璃化处理，使建筑呈现出光滑的外观。

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."

该项目于2011年完工，引发了人们对该饭店开业的猜测。2012年末，德国豪华酒店集团凯宾斯基宣布，柳京酒店将于2013年年中在其管理下部分开业，但几个月后又宣布退出，称“目前不可能”进入这个市场。