culture

A meeting and the grand mass gymnastics and artistic performance "Long Live the Workers' Party of Korea" in celebration of the 80th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea took place with splendour at May Day Stadium on Rungna Islet on the picturesque Taedong River in Pyongyang on October 9.

With the grand political festival thrilling all people and attracting the attention of the world, the conspicuous appearance of the stadium brought back significant memories.

In retrospect, the construction of the stadium has a touching story.

President Kim Il Sung saw a roofed stadium on his visit to a foreign country in 1965. He then made up his mind to provide the Korean people with a huge and excellent stadium.

In order to translate the President’s intention into reality, Chairman Kim Jong Il initiated the construction of a stadium of a new and original architectural style reflecting the ideological and aesthetic viewpoint of the Korean people and the beautiful natural environment and put his heart and soul into the project.

So, the stadium was designed to be in the shape of an opened parachute and its construction site fixed on Rungna Islet in the middle of the Taedong River.

What was most difficult in its construction was the fixing of the parachute-shaped roof.

However, the builders created a large roof shade truss assembly method, which involved lifting the 80 to 120-metre-long steel trusses weighing tens of tons at once, thus working a miracle of finishing in a few months the truss assembly which was estimated to take more than a year if done in the existing method.

The parachute-type roofing method of the stadium was highly rated at the 16th international invention and new technology exhibition held in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 1988.

The stadium was inaugurated on May 1 1989.

Since then, it has served as the venue for colourful celebrations, art performances and sports games, including the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students held amid the attention of the whole world and the grand mass gymnastics and artistic performance “Arirang”, winner of Kim Il Sung Prize registered in the Guinness Book of Records.

It has been renovated in a modern style in the new century.

At present, the stadium is equipped with 150 000-seat stands, a football pitch and track and field course that conform to international standards and with other sports and welfare facilities and service amenities to provide players and spectators with all conveniences.