Grand People's Study House

The Grand People's Study House (Korean: 인민대학습당) is the central library located in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

[4] Opened as "a sanctuary of learning",[5] the library is located in the center of the capital, the Central District of Pyongyang, near the Supreme People's Assembly.

[11] Lectures on a variety of subjects also take place,[12] with the American evangelist Billy Graham even being able to give a talk in 1994, despite religious practises often being met with harsh punishments.

[13] Also, the Juche Tower – the physical manifestation of North Korea's Communist brand – is directly across from the library on the other side of the Taedong River.

For major media coverage, the library is often seen in speeches, military and nuclear parades, and performances celebrating national holidays.

The library plays numerous significant roles in the lives of North Koreans, as a place of cult of personality and governmental control.

Alongside Juche, computer education is compulsory in North Korea, making them the two most popular subjects to study for military officers and university students.

The building at night
A computer study room at the Grand People's Study House. Photo taken in March 2014. The computers give access to a North Korean intranet, not the world-wide Internet. The computers here are set up with Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0.