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The Potala Place
The Potala Palace rises another one hundred and seventy meters from the Marpo Ri hill, which is already one hundred and thirty meters above from the Lhasa valley. It is said that there is a sacred cave in which Bodhisattva Chenresi (Avilokiteshvara) once lived and Emperor Songtsen Gampo also meditated. The emperor then built a palace there and the palace remained until 17th century and later it merged with other buildings. The fifth Dalai Lama began the construction of the present palace in 1645 during the reign of and the Potrang Karpo, or White Palace, was completed in 1648. Between 1690 and 1694, the Potrang Marpo, or Red Palace was completed, by the labors of more than 7000 workers and 1500 artists and craftsman. Many chapels and assembly halls in the White Palace were renewed in 1922 by the 13th Dalai Lama. Two stories were also added to the Red Palace during that time. In 1959, the Potala Palace escaped severe damages during the Tibetan uprising against the invading Chinese, and thanks to the efforts of Chou En Lai, it survived from destroy by the Red Guards during the 1960s and 1970s. Now tourists can still enjoy the original beauty of the chapels and their artifacts.
The name of Potala can be traced back as early as the 11th century. It is believed that the name is after the Mt. Potala, a mythological mountain in southern India of the Bodhisattva Chenresi (Avilokiteshvara / Kuan Yin). The Emperor Songtsen Gampo himself had been regarded as an incarnation of Chenresi, and this adds the possibility that the name of the palace origins in the Indian mountain for it is this emperor who built the palace. Having an interior space of more than a hundred and thirty thousand square meters, the scale of the Potala Palace is enormous. Apart from all kinds of roles, the palace was first the chief place for Dalai Lama to live in. Many pilgrimages come here for it’s the tombs of the past Dalai Lamas. Also, it’s now the place Tibetan government, holding numerous of ceremonies of state. There are two small chapels with the White Palace that were built in the 17th century and they are now the most ancient buildings on the hill and therefore the most sacred. Inside the Phapka Lhakhang is the Arya Lokeshvara, also the most venerated statue which attracts waves of pilgrimages every day.
Potrang Marpo(the Red Palace)
Potrang Marpo, or the Red Palace is the part exclusively used for religious meditation and Buddhist prayer in the Potala palace. The building contains various constructions like halls, chapels, libraries, each of which is extremely delicate. Also, the arrays and winding passages between small galleries are complicated.
1. Great West Hall
It is the central hall of the Red Palace. The four great chapels in the hall declaring the supreme power and glory of the Fifth Dalai Lama, who is also the builder of the hall. His life was depicted into many miniatures which are still hanging in the hall. Many of those miniatures are quite famous both artistically and historically. For example, the one on the east wall outside the entrance is known for depicting the Lama's visit to Emperor Shun Zhi in Beijing. The columns and pillars are also very beautiful as they are wrapped by special Bhutan cloth.
2. The Saint's Chapel
The Chapel, situated on the north side of the hall, is the holliest shrine in the Potala from as early as 17th century. Tongzhi Emperor of China wrote the inscription over the door. The grand blue and gold inscription declared Buddhism as a Blessed Field of Wonderful Fruit. Inside the chapel, there is a small statue of Avalokiteshvara and two of his attendants. The statue was encrusted with some precious ancient jewel. Going down the floor and walking through a dark passage, you will see the Dharma Cave. It is said that Songsten Gampo studied Buddhism there. In the cave, all the images are about him: his statue, his wives and his ministers. There is also the statue of Sambhota. He is the one who invented Tibetan writing.
3. North Chapel
On the left of this chapel, there is a crowned Sakyamuni Buddha; and on the right, the Fifth Dalai Lama. Both statues are seated on grandiose golden thrones, but they shares the same height and aura, implying their equal status. A gold stupa tomb of the Eleventh Dalai Lama is on the far left of the chapel. As he died a child, rows of benign Medicine Buddhas accompanied him as they represented the heavenly healers. Statues of Avalokiteshvara and his historical incarnations(for instance, Songsten Gampo and the first four Dalai Lamas) are on the right of the chapel. A room which is a branch of the chapel is a a specialized library for containing scriptures covered in silk between wooden covers.
4. South Chapel
Padmasambhava is the central figure of this chapel. He is an Indian saint in the eighth century. By his left knee there is his consort Yeshe Tsogya who was sent to him as a gift from the King; and by his right knee is his other wife from his native land of Swat. Eight of his holy manifestations are on his left, all concertinaing in meditating. other eight wrathful manifestations are on his right, wielding magical instruments to subdue the demons of the Bön faith.
5. East Chapel
Tsong Khapa, founder of the Gelug tradition is the main figure of the East chapel. His statue is enclosed by statues of lamas from Sakya Monastery. Before converting to Tsong Khapa, they were the rulers of Tibet and founded their own tradition. All the statues are made of all kinds of materials. Some of them also display noble expressions.
6. West Chapel
Five golden stupas are in this chapel. The most magnificent one, the one which has the mummified body of the Fifth Dalai Lama, is as high as 14.85 metres, costing 3,727 kg of solid gold and 18,680 pearls and some other less precious jewels. The funeral stupa for the Twelfth Dalai Lama is on the left and on the right is the the Tenth Dalai Lama's. Some significant scriptures are on the stupas situated on both ends of the chapel.
7. First Gallery
Locating above the West chapel, the gallery is famous for its large windows that give light and ventilation to the Great West Hall and the chapels below the gallery. Some highly detailed murals between the windows are also worth seeing.
8. Second Gallery
The Second Gallery leads to the central pavilion where visitors could have refreshments and buy souvenirs.
9. Third Gallery
Next to fine murals, the Third Gallery contains a lot of branching rooms inside which are numerous pieces of bronze statues and precious copper and gold miniature figures. On the south side is the chanting hall of the Seventh Dalai Lama. The entrance connecting the the Saints chapel and the Deyangshar between the two palaces is on the east of the gallery.
10. Tomb of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama
Seated in the west of the Great West Hall, the tomb can be reached from an upper floor and a monk or a guide of the Potala are supposed to accompany you. When completed in 1993, the 14-meter-high stupa cost as much as one ton of solid gold and many other priceless jewels, with Indian elephant tusks, porcelain lions and vases and a pagoda made from over 200,000 pearls. Many events happened in the life of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama were depicted in beautiful murals in traditional Tibetan styles.
Portrang Karpo
Portrang Karpo, or the White Palace the living place of the Dalai Lama in the Potala Palace. The Fifth Dalai Lama built the first White Palace and he moved the government into it in 1649. In the early 20th century, the thirteenth Dalai LamaIt extended it to its size today. Marked with secular uses, it has the living quarters, offices, the seminary and even the printing house. Deyangshar, a central, yellow-painted courtyard divides the living quarters and the religious place, the Red Palace. The White Palace's significance also lies in the fact that it has the sacred gold stupas—the tombs of eight Dalai Lamas—the monks' assembly hall, numerous chapels and shrines, and libraries for some important Buddhist scriptures, for instance, the Kangyur in 108 volumes and the Tengyur with 225 volumes. Some giant banners, with many holy symbols embroidered on, are coutained in the yellow building at the side of the White Palace in the courtyard between the main palaces, and during New Year festivals, they will be hanging across the south face of the Potala.
The Potala Palace, located on the side of Marpo Ri ('Red Mountain') in the center of Lhasa Valley, has a surprisingly altitude of 3,700 m. The palace occupies the whole width of the mountain. Although it was designed as a fortress, the palace looks totally different: the huge walls are sloping inward, many beautiful windows stand in lines on the wall, and the roof are flat but with different levels. Walls and gates surround a large space in which there are great porticos. The way to the peak of the rock is paved by many easy-to-climb staircases that are only cut by some gentle ascent.
The central buildings of the palace stand much higher above its satellites from all the four directions. Like those on the Jokhang, those higher buildings end in gilt canopies. This central Potala, also called the "red palace" for its distinguishing crimson colour, contains the principal halls and chapels and shrines of past Dalai Lamas. The paintings inside are highly decorated by ornaments like jewelled work, carving, etc.
The Potala Palace is also the model for many other temples in the region. For instance, the Chinese Putuo Zongcheng Temple was built according to its style. The palace is also famous for its role as one of the "New Seven Wonders" named by the American television show Good Morning America and newspaper USA Today.
History of the Palace
In 637, when Princess Wen Cheng of the Tang Dynasty of China came here to marry King Songtsen Gampo, the King took his meditative place to build the palace for his bride.
In 1645, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Lozang Gyatso, began to build the grand Potala Palace. Konchog Chophel, a spiritual adviser of Dalai Lama, suggested that the position of the site was an ideal place for a seat of government, as the palace was situated between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. Following his advice, the government moved to the the Potrang Karpo ('White Palace') in 1649, so did the Lama himself. The construction lasted for a long time--until 12 years after the death of the Lama. From then on, the palace was the winter palace for the Dalai Lama to spend his winter there. Between 1690 and 1694, the construction of the Potrang Marpo ('Red Palace') was completed. The name came from a sacred mountain in India: a hill honoured the bodhisattva of compassion Avalokitesvara, or Chenrezi. For Tibetan people, if they want to name the sacred place, they would used "Peak Potala" or only "the Peak".
In 1959, the Tibetan uprising brought some slight damage to the palace: the shells of Chinese broke the windows of the palace. During the Cultural Revolution, thanks to the efforts of Premier Zhou Enlai, the Palace remained untouched from the Red Guards. However, more than 100,000 volumes of scriptures, historical documents and other works of art were removed, damaged or destroyed.
In 1994, the UNESCO World Heritage List added the Potala Palace. In 2000 and 2001, the List added Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka as its extensions. The UNESCO was highly concern about the atmosphere around the palace, expressing that the rapid growth of modernized constructions may do damage to it. Then a a rule was made which bars any building taller than 21 metres in the area. UNESCO also doubted about the materials used for the Palace's restoration, but the palace's director, Qiangba Gesang, expressed that all the materials used were exclusively traditional, which cost a hundred and eighty million Yuan. Another restoration of the Palace was in the year between 1989 to 1994, which took fifty-five million Yuan.
In 2003, a restriction of the daily number of visitors(no more than 1,600) was carried out, with another reduction of opening hour to six hour per day. Before the restriction, the Palace might receive more than 5,000 a day, and the average number was as high as 3,100. In 2006, the structure's roof was banned from visiting in order to avoid further structural damage. On July 1, 2006, due to the opening of the Qingzang railway into Lhasa, the government raised the visitor number to 2,300. But the number can hardly meet the demand: by mid-morning, the quota is usually full. The government also extended the opening hour in July to September, which was the peak time for tourists, and more than 6,00 would pay a visit to the Palace.
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Precious Image inside Potala Palace
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For large pictures of Buddhist Images in Potala Palace, please go to Precious Image of Potala Tower
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For large pictures of Buddhist Images in Potala Palace, please go to The Image of Potala Tanghka
The Potala Palace Kora
The mountain Marpo Ri, on which sits the Potala, is embraced by a pathway that is called the Potala Kora. The kora is lined with prayer wheels on the back (northern) of the hill. The outside and the inside of the wheels are inscribed with inscription and prayer texts respectively. The pilgrims spin the wheels to send their skyward as they walk along the Kora. The photos below shows how the pilgrim progress goes: spin the wheel in a clockwise direction,complete a circle.
It is very nice to take a walk at the foot of the before or after the visit Potala Palace. The walk has been largely secularized due to the recent renovations by government, but still there are a large number of people, especially in the morning. The distance from western chorten to northwest corner, between which are all prayer wheels, is marked by three large chortens.
Reserve tickets to Potala Palace in advance
Now a quota system has been employed to cope with the large quantity of tourists from both domestic and abroad to visit Potala in summer months.
If you plan to visit Potala during the period from mid-April to November, in the morning of the day before your visiting day, you have to go to the office at the southwestern gate, present your passport and then get a reservation slip on which detailed time for your visiting the next day is given. One person can get for spots each time. 2300 slips, of which only 700 are for independent tourist, are available in one day. If all the reservation are taken, you will be turned down and wait for the next round. So make sure you set off early enough in the peak of the tourist season.
The on-line booking system makes the process much easier. The entry fee is expected to hit a record of 300RMB. During the winter session (December to mid-april), buying ticket on-line is of great preference.
On the day you visit the palace, you have to first get to the southern entrance. Then through the rebuilt village of the shol, where sits the ticket office halfway, you can get in the palace. The exit is at the back of the palace and you can descend either from the lukhang or the western entrance.
Photography is strictly forbidden and the rooms are installed with video camera and motion sensors.
Now, as the more strict management puts towards to foreign tourists in Tibet, it seems difficult for foreign travelers to buy entrance in the spot independently. All the tourists from abroad have to contact travel agency and book a guided tour, the travel agency has been in charge of purchasing of entrance tickets of Potala Palace from 3.14 riot, 2008. the more complicated procedure comes out that the travel agency must submit the name list of visitors one day before they enter Tibet and the actual time of visiting will be arranged by admonition of Potala Place according to the visiting circumstance in next day.
According to the Tourism Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region, tickets to the world's architecture wonder---- the Potala Palace need to be booked one day in advance during the peak season. The procedure is like this.
The exterior of the world renowned Potala Palace.
1.One day before your visiting plan, you should go to the southwestern gate to get a free ticket vouchers offered by the Management Office of the Potala Palace.
2.The following day, you by ticket with the vouchers at the ticket booths personally.
3.Keep in mind that you should go at the time as the voucher required, and all of them will be expired after the closing date.
To ensure that as many as possible tourists can have access to the palace, and also secure a quality journey, you'd better keep these few tips in mind.
Visitors from domestic and abroad
1.There is no limit to the number of visitors and the length of visiting time to the Zhol City at the foot of the Potala Palace during its opening hours. So enjoy yourself.
2.Make sure that you don't take any dangerous articles like firearms, ammunition, ordnance, police apparatus, restricted knives and combustibles and explosives. And all the belongings of the tourists will undergo security checks before visitors enter the palace.
3.Visitors are not allowed to take pictures, smoke and talk loudly inside the Potala Palace.
4.Tour guides are required to bring related certificates with them and the number of the members of each tourist group shall not exceed 30. Tour guides may not give tour instructions in the main hall and the length of the visiting time shall not exceed one hour.
5. During the peak season, travel agencies should designate personnel specially for buying group tickets. The namelist of visitors and their ID cards, passports or relevant certificates are needed for purchasing tickets.
Tibet Luxury Train Details
Train Composition
Each Tangula Luxury Train has 15 passenger cars including 12 accommodation cars � 6 on each side of two dining cars and a scenic lounge car. To maintain a level of exclusivity, a suite car has just four private suites � two passengers per suite. Each of our three trains can carry up to 96 passengers.
Train Composition
Tangula's trains incorporate an onboard oxygen enrichment system allowing passengers to travel in comfort at altitudes of up to 5,072 meters. The train cars are not pressurized like aircraft cabins for high-altitude flight; they have a specially developed system that regulates air content to maintain consistent oxygen levels inside the train. The system monitors oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the passenger areas and automatically modulates oxygen-enriched airflow into the car as the altitude changes. Passengers who experience difficulty at high altitudes can also access oxygen directly in their private suites and at various points in the other train cars. This air supply system incorporates redundancy to ensure continuous supply.
Environmental Sensitivity
We promote responsible and sustainable tourism practices. Tangula Luxury Trains maintain a zero discharge policy - all waste will be collected and disposed of according to stringent regulations. Tangula cooperates with the communities we visit and respects their environments and customs. We promote local art and products to return profits back to the communities and we believe an important part of Tangula journeys is educating our guests about the regional cultures and environments, so that they value the local heritage and therefore contribute to its protection.
Security
Safety and security is our priority. Each train is secured with power-operated and locked external doors and has electronically controlled personal access to each suite. An onboard security officer is responsible for the overall safety and security of guests and employees, both at stations and in transit.
Speed
Tangula trains reach a top speed of 160 kph (100 mph) with a reduced maximum speed of 100 kph (62 mph) over the permafrost sections of the plateau. In many sections of the journey, Tangula will intentionally reduce the speed of the train so that our guests can enjoy the breathtaking scenery.
Manufacturing
The train cars are manufactured in China by Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation Ltd. (BSP) and operated by Tangula Railtours Ltd., a joint venture between the Tangula Group and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company.
Train Management
Kempinski, Europe's oldest luxury hotel collection, manages Tangula's luxury trains and brings our guests world-class service and cuisine. A brand long synonymous with style, nobility and efficiency, Kempinski-trained staff ensure the highest international standards of service and hospitality for our discerning guests.
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