The Potala Palace is situated on the top of the Red Hill in central Lhasa, at an altitude of over 3,700 metres, and rises over 100 metres. The residence of the Dalai Lama from 1648 until 1959 when he escaped to India during the Tibetan uprising. Converted to a museum by the Chinese government it is still a place of pilgrimage for many Tibetans.
The Potala Palace is situated on the top of the Red Hill in central Lhasa, at an altitude of over 3,700 metres it rises over 100 metres. The Palace was built by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet in 637AD over a sacred cave as a palace for his bride the Princess Wen Cheng of China. Consisting of 9-storeys it was said to have had a thousand rooms. With the collapse of the Songtsen Gampo Dynasty, and the subsequent wars the palace was severely damaged. Construction of the present palace began in 1645 during the reign of the fifth Dalai Lama and by 1648 the Potrang Karpo, or White Palace, was completed.
It was at this time that it became the Dalai Lamas main residence and the centre for political and religious affairs in Tibet although later it became his Winter Palace. The Potrang Marpo, or Red Palace, was added between 1690 and 1694.
In 1922 the 13th Dalai Lama renovated many chapels and assembly halls in the White Palace and added two stories to the Red Palace. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to India, after the Chinese invasion and failed uprising in 1959 when the palace was slightly damaged. It was not sacked by the Red Guards during the 1960s and 1970s, due to the personal intervention of Chou En Lai. Consequently, all the chapels and their artifacts are well preserved.
Today the Potala Palace has been converted into a museum by the Chinese government but is still a place of pilgrimage for many Tibetans. Although foreign tourists’ groups are provided with their own entrance and do not have to queue.
They also have a preference in visiting all the places and points of interest, something, incidentally, that is accepted more than willingly by the local visitors.
Consisting of 13 stories with an interior space in excess of 130,000 square metres, the Potala Palace contains two palaces and living quarters of over 1,000 rooms, temples, stupas, and 10,000 shrines. As a museum, it houses about 200,000 statues and a wealth of national treasures. The building measures 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south. It has thick sloping stone walls averaging 3 metres with up to 5 metres thick walls at the base. In order to help protect it against earthquakes, it has copper poured into the foundations.
At its base to the south is a large, enclosed space, also are a set of prayer wheels which are small revolving cylinders inscribed with or containing prayers, a revolution of which symbolizes the repetition of a prayer, something commonly used by Tibetan Buddhists.
Leading from there is a gentle slope and stairs up to the summit and the palace buildings.
The Potala consists of two palaces. The White Palace contained the living quarters of the Dalai Lama, offices, the seminary, and the printing house. Visitors will see the throne room where the Dalai Lama would receive official guests and the reception hall and some of his personal rooms.
First built in the 17th century it was extended to its present size in the early twentieth century.
A central, yellow-painted courtyard known as a Deyangshar separates the living quarters of the Dalai Lama and the monks with the Red Palace.
The Red Palace, painted red to represent stateliness and power, is devoted to religious study and prayer.
It consists of many halls, chapels, and libraries on a number of levels with many smaller galleries and passages. The main central hall built by the fifth Dalai Lama is the Great West Hall and chapels with cloth wrapping and many columns and murals painted on the walls. There are several mausoleums of previous Dalai Lamas including that of the fifth Dalai Lama, which is over 40 feet tall. Also within the red Palace is the Dharma Cave and the Saint's Chapel which are the remaining parts of the 7th-century building which contains statues of Songtsen Gampo, Princess Wen Cheng, and Princess Bhrikuti.
Unfortunately, photographs are not allowed anywhere within the interior of the palace. A sneaked one at the entrance does give an indication of the decoration to be seen, but not of the grandeur of the interior.
The Potala Palace was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994. In 2000 and 2001, the Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka (the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama) were added as extensions to the sites.
To see more photographs and take a virtual tour of the site click on the photoshow below.
