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![The Lotte Corp. World Tower is the tallest building in South Korea, and the fifth-tallest in the world. Getty Images](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/6I7QBDFLDBUQUANFWK5WNVT7KQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=169737ea7450845e87fba2120a73ec93277753f3ffc87354eb68920def2de5e2&width=400&height=225)
![The Ryugyong Hotel is the world's tallest unoccupied building. It's based in Pyongyang, North Korea. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/EOALHAO4WDCJMWCHUVVUS4FLWA.jpg?smart=true&auth=b34adce2927e66f1b0a7b05192097e907bef954109f9f44db0201c3b5977a047&width=400&height=225)
![The Gran Torre Santiago, formerly known as Torre Gran Costanera, part of the Costanera complex, is the tallest skyscraper in South America. Getty Images](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/X3IYOXRBZCKIQBJSQ5DUEG3DRY.jpg?smart=true&auth=db63a597e702c9b79a63511847c992ab33f6d8bde4f50cdac95ac55052d32fc8&width=400&height=225)
![Dubai's Burj Al Arab is the tallest all-suite hotel in the world, one of the most recognisable buildings in the Middle East and only 60m shorter than the Empire State Building. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/CBYZJQQC4R2QZPVI5FPQFDJWTU.jpg?smart=true&auth=c575648d43b2bd20866b5f1a9449324cc090c9d6efe879121315e1cf9cc13841&width=400&height=225)
![New York's One World Trade Centre is the tallest building America and the Western Hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest in the world. Getty Images](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/JUA7C437QMQHBBVHMJEL7A2HSE.jpg?smart=true&auth=91812757f3d98cc3b55cdc5c2b71522cd27d773017868f8cb9380ad756abcca9&width=400&height=225)
![For 40 years, the steel-framed, 103-storey Empire State Building was the tallest in the world, until 1971, and remains to this day one of the best examples of Modernist Art Deco design. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/3RLLNHNFVUCO2HGBWLTF27RG3E.jpg?smart=true&auth=0e741ca28e01b4e01f35dc6c47c996a9e5e7cf23e16f81b7105fcdda1a1e1004&width=400&height=225)
![The 75-storey corporate headquarters of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, designed by HOK. Reuters](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/KLKZTE6FOXOSHCYEVZJRMD6DFI.jpg?smart=true&auth=7c82f69da00d569c7132fa8cb2efd8b70f4d2f11ae5217fdebd09046271a3703&width=400&height=225)
![Construction outside the ICD Brookfield Place building on Al Mustaqbal Street, Dubai Photo: Reem Mohammed/The National](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/F36NDKK5WPSDU7UIAVYHCSDTDI.jpg?smart=true&auth=6496715bad0b53683434f911097f4f4ff428eb12448050a546d3eea5247bf4d7&width=400&height=225)
29 of the world's most famous skyscrapers: from Dubai's Burj Khalifa to New York's Empire State Building
These are the buildings that have redefined their respective cities' skylines
![Katy Gillett](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Fthenational%2F0d30538e-8093-483b-9671-b522ebeb7695.png?smart=true&auth=8c7547f4ac03274ba8bbce82d6291f909b38c6ccab7737911edec4058f46eea6&width=70&height=70)
Katy Gillett
April 25, 2021
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April 25, 2021