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Potala Palace Tibet |
Potala is a Sanskrit word meaning "a sacred land of the Buddhism". Situated on the Maburi Hill northwest of Lhasa, the Potala Palace is a winter palace for the successive Dalai lamas and the political center of Tibet when religion was integrated with politics. It was first built in the 7th century when Songtsan Gampo, who had united Tibet and made Lhasa the capital, was going to marry Princess Wencheng of the Tang dynasty. It is a symbol of the unity of the Hans and Tibetans. The Palace was damaged several times in the following thousand years, and the restored Palace we can see today was first rebuilt by the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1641(the 14th year of the Chongzhen reign Period of the Ming Dynasty), and was completed 50 years later. Up to now, it has been reconstructed several times. Being the bigest palatial architecture group with the highest altitude in China, the Potala Palace is the cream of architecture of traditional Tibetan style, and also one of the most splendid palaces in the world.
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The Potala Palace was constructed on the hillside and was elevated gradually. The thirteen-story main palace is over 110 meters high, and the towers on both sides are over 500 meters from east to west and 100 meters from south to north. Looking at it from the foot of the hill, one cannot help gasping in admiration at this grand building with the sky and mountain as its background. The magnificent Potala Palace and the Lhasa River |
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Climbing up the broad and steep stone-steps, walking across the sunlit Deyangxia Square, and through the cave-like palaces, one meets the main buildings in the palace Red Palace and White Palace. Red Palace is the center and flocked by the White Buildings. White Palace, named from its out look, is the living quarters and office of dalai. Sunlight Hall, filled with precious jewels, pearls and antiques, is Dalai's luxurious sitting room. A golden pot in it weighs 6 kg. The Red Palace is the family temple of Dalai. It contains the mourning halls of Dalai Lamas (from the 5th to the 13th) and halls for worshipping Buddha. In the hall there are ten thousand of Buddhist images. They are exquisitely made art works of various shapes. The largest and most valuable stupas belong to the 5th and the 13th Dalai Lamas. The one that contains the body of the Fifth Dalai, Losang Gyaco stands 14.85 meters high, using 595kg of gold and 115000kg of copper. On it are more than 4000 pearls of different sizes and there are also countless other treasures. Accompanied by 8 silver stupas on both sides, it is unbelievably brilliant and splendid, and is called "No.1 decoration in the World". The jewel-coated stupas of the 13th Dalai, Tudain Gyaco, is 14 meters high, in front of which stands a splendid pagoda made of 200000 pearls. It is indeed an art treasure. |
The White Palace of the Potala Palace กก
The Western Hall is the largest of its kind in the Red Palace |
Each room in the Potala Palace is decorated with colorful, vivid murals. The palace thus becomes a large-scale show of murals of various figures. In terms of subject matter, these murals concern historical stories, biographies, local customs and folklores, of which the high-level technique of expression fully shows the talent of the ancient Tibetan artists.
