The pavilion standing on the picturesque bank of the River Taedong, fitting in pretty well with its surroundings, was built in the period of Koguryo (277 B.C. - 668 A.D.) along with the Pyongyang Wall. It is said to have been reconstructed several times.

For its superb beauty, it is called "Jeilrudae", "Manhwaru" and so on. It is a cultural asset showing the excellent architecture of the Korean nation.

The pavilion of peculiar style consists of the southern and northern wings with lifted floors supported by 11 and 9 pillars respectively. It has a hanging board with the characters "the most beautiful mountains and rivers in the world" written by a foreign envoy.

Graceful is the outside view of the pavilion with its two hip-saddle roofs fitted together at a right angle. And the railing around the lifted wooden floor, the girders with silk patterns painted red and blue and every other element of the pavilion strike the visitors with wonders for its exquisite work.

The pavilion conveys various stories including the famous anecdote that Kim Hwang Won, a well-known poet in the period of the Koryo Dynasty (918-1392), broke his brush, regretting his inability to depict the scenic beauty of its surroundings and an episode telling the patriotism of General Kim Ung So and a woman Kye Wol Hyang who killed a boss of the Japanese aggressive army in the period of Imjin Patriotic War (1592-1598).

The pavilion forms a district of cultural relics together with the Taedong Gate, the Bell-house of the Pyongyang Bell, the Monument to Kye Wol Hyang and the Paek Son Haeng Memorial House. It was severely damaged by indiscriminate bombings of the U.S. imperialists during the Fatherland Liberation War, but was rehabilitated soon after the war under the government's policy of preserving national culture and is now cared for as a national treasure.

Today an endless stream of working people of all strata, school youth and children and foreigners flows to the pavilion.