Potala Palace

Potala Palace is the highest ancient palace in the world. Potala named after a holy hill in South India is a Sanskrit word meaning "Abode of the Avalokitesvara (Buddha of Mercy)." The Potala Palace is said to be used for greeting a Han Princess. Legend has it that in the 7th century, to greet his bride Princess Wen Cheng of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) of China, the then Tibet King Songtsen Gampo built a 9-storey palace with a thousand rooms up on the Red Hill and named it Potala. The palace was mainly made of stones and woods, and decorated with special local willow branches called Baima Grass. Later, with the collapse of the Songtsen Gampo Dynasty, the ancient palace was almost destroyed in wars. What we see at present is the architecture of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) and the continuous expanding work outcome since the 17th century.

Potala Palace is a symbol of the cultural and economic communication of Tibet and Tang Court. Now, with high historical value, the palace is very important to China.

The Palace is composed of 2 parts, the Red Palace as the center and the White Palace as two wings.

Of more than 1,000 rooms in the Potala, the ones considered most holy are the Chogyal Drubphuk and the Phakpa Lhakhang, remnants from the original palace of Srong-brtsan-sgam-po; the latter houses the sacred Arya Lokeshvara (Avalokiteshvara) statue. More than 200,000 statues and 10,000 altars are located within the sacred complex. Its value was recognized by China’s Cultural Relics Commission, and the palace was spared during the Cultural Revolution. The Potala was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. Two other locations—Tsuglagkhang, or Gtsug-lag-khang (Jokhang), Temple, one of the holiest places in Tibetan Buddhism, and the Norbuglingka (Nor-bu-gling-ka; Jewel Palace), the former summer residence of the Dalai Lama—were added to the World Heritage site in 2000 and 2001, respectively.