The Arch of Triumph is located at the foot of Moran Hill in the capital city Pyongyang. It was erected to hand down the immortal exploits of the great leader Kim Il Sung who returned home in triumph after liberating Korea. Kim Il Sung made a speech on his triumphant return at the foot of Moran Hill on October 14, Juche 34(1945).
The monument was unveiled on April 14, Juche 71(1982) on the occasion of his 70th birth anniversary.
The four-story Arch of Triumph is 60 metres high and 50.1 metres wide.
Seen in the centre of first floor is an archway opening to the four directions. The archway is fringed with 70 azalea reliefs symbolizing the 70th birthday of Kim Il Sung.
Carved in relief on the walls of both sides are the years “1925” and “1945” and under it are the reliefs of the subsidiary six-figure groups. Here, 1925 means the year when Kim Il Sung set out on the road of revolution and 1945 means the year when Korea was liberated. The reliefs vividly show the pleasure and joy of the Korean people who greeted Kim Il Sung in the liberated country and their ardent desire for creation of a new life.
The immortal revolutionary hymn “Song of General Kim Il Sung” is seen in the centre of the fore and the back of the second floor and the ancestral Mt. Paektu on the left and right walls. It makes people look back with humble reverence upon the 20-year-long arduous anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle led by Kim Il Sung. The Arch of Triumph has retained Korea-style architectural form according to the modern aesthetic sense and its characteristics, showing unique modern and national architecture.
The exploits of Kim Il Sung for national liberation will be told forever along with the immortal grand monument–Arch of Triumph.
