Potala Palace

Author: Meiduo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-12-01
Features: The main body of the Potala Palace consists of the Red Palace and the White Palace, which can be clearly distinguished by their colors. The Red Palace is central, with walls painted in red earth. The White Palace spans the wings, connecting with the Red Palace on three sides (east, south, and north) and has walls whitewashed. The main building of the palace has an appearance of 13 floors but is 9 floors inside, standing at about 117 meters tall. It measures over 360 meters from east to west and 270 meters from north to south, covering a total area of approximately 120,000 square meters, composed of over 1,000 rooms including residential quarters, Buddhist temples, stupas, monk's quarters, etc.
Red Mountain is a small hill located in the northwest of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. In the hearts of local followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it is regarded as Mount Putuo, the dwelling place of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, hence its Tibetan name "Potala" (meaning Putuo). The world-famous Potala Palace was built along the contours of this hill, reaching up to its summit. Legend has it that this magnificent palace originated in the 7th century, when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo built a nine-story palace with 1,000 rooms on Red Mountain specifically to welcome the Chinese princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty, naming it Potala Palace for the princess to reside. After the collapse of the Tibetan dynasty established by Songtsen Gampo, most of the ancient fortress was destroyed in wars. It wasn't until the 17th century, when the 5th Dalai Lama established the Ganden Phodrang dynasty and was officially recognized by the Qing government as the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, that the reconstruction of the Potala Palace began in 1645. Subsequent Dalai Lamas continued to expand it over the centuries, giving the Potala Palace its current scale.