Juche Tower

The Juche Tower (more formally, the Tower of the Juche Idea; Korean: 주체사상탑), completed in 1982, is a 170-metre (560 ft) monument in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The monument is named after the ideology of Juche introduced by North Korea's first leader, Kim Il Sung. The Juche Tower is situated on the east bank of the River Taedong, directly opposite Kim Il Sung Square on the west bank. It was built to commemorate Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday and was unveiled at the birthday celebration on April 15, 1982. The 170-metre (560 ft) structure is composed of a four-sided tapering 150-metre (490 ft) spire – the tallest granite structure in the world – containing 25,550 blocks (one for each day of the first 70 years of Kim Il Sung's life), dressed in white stone with seventy dividers and capped with a 20-metre (66 ft)-high 45-ton permanently illuminated metal torch.