The Potala Palace

The Potala Palace

Known as “布達拉” or “普陀珞” in Mandarin Chinese, the name is a translation from the Sanskrit language word  “Potalaka.”  Situated on  the  Maburishan Mountain (Red Mountain) in the northwest of Lhasa, capital of Tibet, the Potala Palace is a group of magnificent buildings which, standing at more than 3,700 meters above sea level, are the world’s tallest and most intact ancient constructions. The Potala Palace measures more than 360,000 square meters in land area. The 13-story main building is 117 meters tall. It is considered to be the most important example of Tibetan architecture and was the home of the Dalai Lama before he fled to India.

The White Palace

The Red palace

It was rebuilt by the 5th Dalai Lama and became the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lamas from that time. The 13-story building of 1,000 rooms can be seen from many miles away. The Potala is divided into two sections--an outer section, the White Palace, and an inner section, the Red Palace, the latter containing the temples and reliquary tombs of the Dalai Lamas. The entire building is a structure of stone and timber.

The palace is hailed as “the pearl on the roof ridge of the world” and also one of the ten architectural wonders of the world. In 1961, the  People’s Republic of China’s State Council included Potala Palace in the first group of the country’s important heritage sites under state protection. Then in 1994, the Potala Palace became a world heritage site.
Images:Wikipedia

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