The Potala Palace

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.