Situated on Potala Mountain west of the
ancient city of Lhasa in Tibet, Potala Palace is the residential place of the Dalai
Lama, the head of Tibetan Buddhism. It was also the political and religious center
of Tibet in Qing Dynasty.
Potala Palace has a floor space of more than 100,000 square m. The main part of
the palace is constructed on the mountain. With the mountain base, it is 117 m high.
It seems that the palace pops up from the mountain, stabbing into the blue sky on
the plateau. This scene has an extraordinary artistic appeal.
Potala Palace is located in the valley in the suburbs of Lhasa in Tibet. The architectural
complex is divided into the Palace-city area, Palace-room area and lake area behind
the mountain. Palace-city area includes administration office, printing house, living
rooms for secular and Lama officials, prison and horse shed, etc. Palace-room area
on the mountain top is a large group of buildings with White Palace is used to provide
political and religious service for Dalai Lama, and the top floor provides living
quarters for him. Red Palace is devoted to religion, and contains the tomb stupas
of Dalai Lamas of previous generations. The scripture chapels for religious activity
are in the south of White Palace and Red Palace.
Reference data
Potala Palace was originally built in 7th century. In 1645, the 2nd year of Shunzhi
reign of Qing Dynasty, the 5th Dalai Lama expanded the construction. And it came
to the present size after successive expansions.
Previous
Next
