Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, formerly the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, and sometimes referred to as the Kim Il-sung Mausoleum, is a building located near the northeast corner of the city of Pyongyang and serves as the mausoleum for Kim Il-sung, the founder and eternal president of North Korea, and for his son Kim Jong-il who succeeded him as the country's ruler.
The palace was built in 1976 as the Kumsusan Assembly Hall, and served as Kim Il-sung's official residence. Following the elder Kim's death in 1994, Kim Jong-il had the building renovated and transformed into his father's mausoleum. Despite hundreds of thousands starving to death in a famine at the time, it is believed that the conversion cost at least $100m. Some sources put the figure as high as $900m. Inside the palace, Kim Il-sung's embalmed body lies inside a clear glass sarcophagus. His head rests on a Korean-style pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. Plans are underway for Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011, to be displayed next to his father.
Kumsusan is the largest mausoleum dedicated to a Communist leader, and the only one to house the remains of multiple people. It is fronted by a large square, approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) in length. It is bordered on its northern and eastern sides by a moat.
Read more about Kumsusan Palace Of The Sun: Access and Rules, Mementos, Death of Kim Jong-il
Famous quotes containing the words palace and/or sun:
“The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Let the sun shine.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)