Sunday, January 20, 2008

Potala Palace - Lhasa, Tibet

Potala Palace

The Potala Palace is located in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, at an elevation of 3700 m. The Potala was the administrative, religious and symbolic centre of Tibet’s theocratic government for many centuries. It is considered the apogee of Tibetan architecture and has high aesthetic qualities due to its dramatic setting. The designated site was extended in 2000 with Jokhang Temple and in 2001 with Norbulingka Summer Palace.

The Potala served as the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. Its original construction dates from the 7th century AD, but the main parts (Red Palace and White Palace) are 17th century additions. The White Palace was secular in nature (offices and so on), the Red Palace religious. The Potala has 13-storeys and stands over 117 meter high.
Within the palace there are many outstanding wall paintings and tangkas.

The Jokhang is Tibet’s most sacred Buddhist temple, located in the centre of the old town of Lhasa. It was built in the 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo when he moved his capital to Lhasa. The Jokhang was enlarged and embellished by subsequent rulers and Dalai Lamas. It holds the gilded Jowo Sakyamuni statue as the chief object of veneration, depicting the Buddha of the Present.

De Norbulingka (‘Jewelled Garden’) was the Summer palace of the Dalai Lama’s since its construction in the 18th century. It had the same functions as the Potala, and thus those two are inseparably linked. It holds among others the residence of the 14th Dalai Lama before he fled to India.

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