The Potala Palace

The Potala Palace, which stands 117 meters atop the Red Hill in Lhasa, was built 1,300 years ago in the 7th century. The 13-storied palace, also the world's highest, is more than 3,700 meters above sea level and is the outstanding apotheosis of traditional Tibetan architecture.

The Potala Palace is 360,000 square meters in size, and 360 meters in length (west-east)and 270 meters in width (north-south). It features a combination of stone-and-wood Tibetan watchtowers and Han Chinese palaces with traditional beams and pillars, golden roofs and sunk panels. Courtyards and winding corridors were arranged to suit the location. While the major part of the palace complex is highlighted, subordinate architectural groups form a jagged, interlocking pattern providing more space than one would expect, an achievement recognized in the history of architecture.

Legend has it that the Tubo King Songtsan Gambo, a devout Buddhist, often went to recite Buddhist scriptures and pray by what he later named Potala Hill when he made the city of Lhasa his capital. Potala is the Sanskrit pronunciation of Buddha's Mountain. In the Tibetan language, Potala means residence of the Goddess of Mercy. In 614 when he married the Tang Dynasty (618-907) Princess Wencheng, he had the Potala Palace built for his wife. The Potala Palace he built had nine storys, with 999 palace chambers and 1,000 halls specially built for Buddhist meditation in the hill. In the ensuing years, the Potala Palace suffered from wars, thunderbolts and fire. Only the Cave for the Prince of Dharma and the Main Hall, the Pagbalhakang, survived these devastating changes. The present Potala Palace was rebuilt after the 17th century.

The main architecture of the Potala Palace is composed of the two parts: Places used by the Dalai Lama as his living chambers and for political activities; and holy stupas of the successive generations of Dalai Lamas and various Buddhist halls.

The first part is concentrated in the White Palace, built in 1645-1653. This part fans out from the original Hall of the Goddess of Mercy towards the east and west, encompassing groups of monastic halls with white walls-hence the name the White Palace. The White Palace has seven storys. The fourth story, the Coqenxag or the Eastern Hall, covers and area of 717 square meters and is propped up by 38 large pillars. This is the most important Buddhist hall in the Potala Palace, and has witnessed many major religious and political activities, including the enthronement ceremony for the reincarnated soul boy of the Dalai Lama and the ceremony held when the Dalai Lama begins his reign at the age of 18. The fifth and sixth storys were used as the offices and living chambers of the Prince Regent. The seventh story was the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama. It is called the Sunlight Hall simply because the hall enjoys boundless sunlight through its spacious windows. The hall is furnished with gold basins, jade bowls and other treasures, accentuating the high position of the occupant. Outside the Sunlight Hall is a spacious balcony offering a bird's-eye view of the whole of Lhasa. In the distance are undulating mountain ranges, the beautiful Lhasa River, tracts of fields, tree-shaded villages and the glistening Jokhang Monastery.

The second part is concentrated in the Red Palace. When the Red Palace was built in 1690, the Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi sent some 100 artisans of the Han, Manchu and Mongolia to take part in the construction. The majority of the Red Palace is taken up with various Buddhist halls and eight holy stupas containing the remains of the Dalai Lamas. The holy stupa for the 5th Dalai Lama is wrapped inside 110,000 taels of gold sheet and inlaid with 18,677 pearls and pieces of gems, coral, amber and agate. Sixipuncog, or the Western hall, is the largest hall in the Red Palace. The hall covers 725 square meters, and holds a plaque bearing an inscription by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. Inside the hall is the holy throne of the Dalai Lama and a pair of colored silk curtains granted by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. The Three-World Hall, which is the highest in the Red Palace, holds the Beijing-edition Dangyur which Emperor Yongzhen of the Qing Dynasty presented to the 7th Lalai Lama. The westernmost section of the Red Palace is the Hall of the Holy Stupa for the 13th Dalai Lama. The hall, 14 meters high, contains a Mandala said to be made of 200,000 pearls. The Potala Palace is a treasure house of Tibetan art, the opulence of which reflects the enormous differences that existed between the nobles and the serfs and slaves, who made up 95 percent of the Tibetan population, in the old days. While the Red Palace is composed of the religious center and the Holy Stupa Memorial Hall, the White Palace features the living chambers and political center of the Dalai Lama. Both palaces indicate the social character of temporal and religious activities in old Tibet. The 5th Dalai Lama moved into the White Palace from the Zhaibung Monastery as soon as the former was built. He stayed there until his death. The Dalai Lamas of later generations resided in the Potala Palace, from where they took political power. This is why lamas and Tibetan Buddhists worship the Potala Palace and consider it as holy land.

For more than 300 years, the Potala Palace was the center from which Tibet's political and religious administration was run. It is now a museum of historical relics and arts and crafts, including 50,000 square meters of frescos featuring lifelike figures, which tell religious stories, display local customs and habits, and often contain biographies of historical and religious figures, and records of historical events. The frescos record the expansion of the Potala Palace in history and Princess Wencheng's entry into Tibet in the 7th century. In the Western Hall, there is a wall of frescos which display the 5th Dalai Lama paying homage to the Qing Emperor Shunzhi in 1652. In the Hall for the Holy Stupa of the 13th Dalai Lama is a fresco recording the 13th Dalai Lama paying homage to Qing Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Ci Xi in Beijing. The palace also boasts a huge collection of cultural relics and Buddhist classics, such as close to 1,000 Buddhist pagodas, about 10,000 statues of Buddha, numerous tangka paintings, pattra-leaf Sutra and Gangyur, as well as gold certificates of appointment, and gold and jade seals of authority, which emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties bestowed to the Dalai Lamas of various generations. These historical and cultural relics are witness to the fact that China is a country with many nationalities, including the Tibetan. Rich collections of woolen rugs, canopy, religious objects, curtains, silk fabrics, gold and silver utensils, chinaware and stone artifacts often provoke wonder and amazement in visitors.