Grand People’s Study House, National library at Kim Il Sung Square, North Korea

The Grand People's Study House is North Korea's national library on Kim Il Sung Square, a 10-storey building of 100,000 square metres and 600 rooms, built to resemble a chosŏnjip, a traditional Korean house, at Kim Jong Il's insistence. Its light-grey stone base carries rows of rectangular windows and columns, and tiered green-tiled roofs with upturned eaves step down over lower wings. Inside, readers sit at rows of wooden desks among tall pale columns.

The institution opened on 13 November 1945 as the Pyongyang City Library and was recognised as the National Central Library in 1946. Destroyed in the Korean War, it reopened on 15 August 1954 after Kim Il Sung ordered its rebuilding, was renamed the Central Library in 1973, and took its present name on 1 April 1982, Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday. Construction of the new building spanned 21 months in a neo-traditional Korean style.

The name means "Grand People's Study House," adopted in 1982 from the Juche principle of "study while working." Portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hang in each room and atrium, and the interior is decorated with chandeliers and paintings of Mount Paektu, before which statues of Kim Il Sung stand. The library is the centre of Juche studies, though foreign works such as Harry Potter and Gone with the Wind are also held.

The library stands on Kim Il Sung Square facing the Taedong River, with the Juche Tower directly opposite on the east bank. Visitors cannot browse the shelves: they search the online or print catalogues and place a request, and staff retrieve the material. The building has 600 rooms over 10 storeys, so allow time to find your reading room.

The building was designed to resemble a chosŏnjip, a traditional Korean house, at the insistence of Kim Jong Il, and its green-tiled roof earned it the name "Blue Tile Library". It is one of the few buildings in Pyongyang in this neo-traditional style.