Overview
Mansudae Fountain Park is a public park of water features in central Pyongyang. The park is a serene meeting area for students, families with children, and an often used backdrop for wedding photos. Chairman Kim Jong Il once said the Mansudae Fountain Park is a ‘microcosm of not only the beautiful scenery of our country, but also the happy lives of our people’.
Location
Mansudae Fountain Park is located in Pyongyang’s Central District and is surrounded by North Korea’s most important landmarks. Slightly to the north is the Mansudae Grand Monument, the most venerated statues of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il.
Mansudae Fountain Park was built here in October 1976 in order to provide open space and vistas of the Mansudae Grand Monument from any angle in the heart of the city. Prior, there was a street and outdated buildings here which were leveled to make way for this construction.
Landmarks in the immediate proximity of Mansudae Fountain Park include the Grand People’s Study House, Kim Il Sung Square, Mansudae Art Theatre, Pyongyang Department Store No. 1, Pyongyang Students and Children’s Palace, Korean Revolution Museum and the Chollima Statue. The Juche Tower is not far away, on the opposite side of the Taedong River.
The closest Pyongyang Metro station is Sungni (Victory) Station.
What’s in Mansudae Fountain Park?
Within Mansudae Fountain Park are water features of all shapes and sizes, including an 80m high fountain shooting into the air like a geyser, and the centrepiece fountain of 28 white statues of women performing the dance ‘Snow Falls’.
Bridges will lead you over the ponds, and there are waterside benches that make a relaxing place to open a book!
There are lines of umbrella spouts, fountains that simulate natural waterfalls, and rocky outcrops that have been weaved into the scenes which depict North Korea’s famous Mt. Kumgang.
Within the trees beside the park are the Sungin Hall and Sungryong Hall which are among the oldest buildings in Pyongyang, both listed as national treasures of North Korea. Sungin Hall dates back to the Koryo dynasty, established in 918 and the first unified kingdom of the Korean peninsula.
On the exterior of the Mansudae Art Theatre beside the park, there’s a vast mural depicting the famous North Korean opera ‘Sea of Blood’.
You’ll find people from all walks of life at Mansudae Fountain Park, be it students taking a break from the Grand People’s Study House, couples on first dates, painters inspired by the aesthetics, or families spending time with their children.
Visiting on Our Tours
On a nice day, we often incorporate a stroll through the Mansudae Fountain Park. It’s a great place to visit early in the tour to get acquainted with Pyongyang’s central layout, and it’s convenient to combine with a visit to the Mansudae Grand Monument nearby.
The Mansudae Fountain Park is open every day, but the fountains are only turned on during summer and spring. A visit to Mansudae Fountain Park takes just 15 minutes. Photography is permitted anywhere in the park.