The Complete Collection -- Postcards and Tourist Guides

 The Complete Collection -- Postcards, Tourist Guides and Bricolage

The Retro DPRK Project is a collection of retro images and tourist artifacts from North Korea, illuminating the period from 1945 until the fall of the Soviet Union when the DPRK was almost entirely closed to Westerner visitors.  Artifacts from this period are mostly lost to history.

Our project seeks to understand how North Koreans experienced the passage of time within the context of their unique historical and political narratives.  We believe this imaginative leap into Korea's past helps expand our own imagination about the country and understand how the North Koreans understand themselves.  

Through these archives of scanned retro images from postcards and tourist guides, we hope to add colour and depth to this lost age in North Korea--- and thus, it is further hoped, provide resources to imagine similarity and agreement between the tragic divide.

The collection is composed of souvenirs, tourist publications and bricolage found by project curator Christopher Graper, accumulated during 100 days working as a tour guide in North Korea with Koryo Tours. Images at Retro DPRK are often exclusive and digitally published here for the first time. 

1960's

1960s Postcard -- Chollima Statue Pyongyang

1960s Postcard Set -- The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum

1963 International Women's Day Poster

1970's

1973 Postcard Set -- Pyongyang Military Circus

1975 Tourist Phrasebook -- Guide parlé Coréen-Français

1975 Postcard Set -- The Flower Girl Revolutionary Opera

1976 Postcard Set -- Song of Mount Kumgang Revolutionary Opera

1976 Postcard Set -- Pyongyang Gymnasium

1976 Postcard Set -- Pyongyang People's House of Culture

1977 Postcard Set -- Pyongyang Metro / Untergrundbahn von Pjongjang

1978 Postcard Set -- Taesongsan Funfair / Le Secteur aux attractions Mont Daiseung

1978 Postcard Set -- Mansudae Arts Troupe

1978 Postcard Set -- "Song of Paradise" Revolutionary Music and Dance Tale

1970s Postcard Set -- February 8th House of Culture

1980's

1980 Postcard Set -- Hamhung Hungnam and Majon Beach

1981 Tourism Brochure -- Changgwang-won Health Complex

1982 Tourist Brochure -- Pyongyang Indoor Skating Rink

1983 Tourism Brochure -- Songdowon

1984 Postcard Set -- Nampo City

1985 Tourist Brochure -- Chongjin City

1987 Postcard Set -- The West Sea Barrage

1988 Postcard Set -- Pays de l'etude

1988 Tourist Brochure -- Hamhung and South Hamgyong Province

1989 Tourist Brochure -- Songdowon International Children's Camp

1989 Postcard Set -- The 13th World Festival of Youth and Students

1989 Postcard Set -- New Buildings in Pyongyang

1980s Tourist Brochures -- Pyongyang Metro

1980s Tourist Brochure -- Wonsan City

1980s Postcard -- No. One Department Store Pyongyang

1980s Postcard -- Pyongyang Zoo

1980s Postcard -- Taesongsan Waterpark Pyongyang

1990's

1990 Postcard Set -- Panmunjom and the DMZ

1990 Postcard Set -- Pyongyang

1991 Tourist Guide -- A Sightseeing Guide to Korea

1995 Tour Guide -- Pyongyang aperçu général

1995 Tourist Brochure -- Yanggakdo Hotel Pyongyang

1990s Souvenir -- April Spring Friendship Art Festival Silk Scarf

1990s Postcard Set -- April Spring Friendship Art Festival

1990 Postcard Set -- Pyongyang