| Title |
From the Functional to the Monumental: The Construction of the Pyongyang Station, 1907?1958 |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK_PD.2019.35.4.115 |
| Keywords |
North Korea ; Pyongyang ; Pyongyang Station ; Postwar Reconstruction ; Socialist Realism |
| Abstract |
Construction of the Pyongyang Railroad Station began in 1907 as an important foothold for the Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula and the further invasion of Manchuria. As Pyongyang gradually grew in size and political significance, the Pyongyang Station came to have two responsibilities: Fulfill its functional role and serve as a monument to the growing dignity of the city. This study argues that the Pyongyang Station, newly rebuilt in 1958, was the first building to solve the demands for both functional expansion and the pursuit of monumentality. Stylistically, the original single-story wooden building became a three-story classical masonry building. The stylistic change symbolizes the political shift by which the building was reconstructed. The simple wooden building built by the Japanese, representing Pyongyang's status as a colonial provincial town, was transformed into an imposing gateway for the capital city of a newly born socialist state. Socialist Realism, correctly described by its slogan "socialist in content and national in form," harmoniously blended classical architecture, socialist symbols, and Korean local motifs. This study is significant in that it illustrates the historical changes and continuity of the Pyongyang Station from 1907, when it was first built, through the "liberated space" to the postwar reconstruction period of the 1950s. |