Potala Palace
པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང Potala Palace | |
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Lhasa, Tibet, China | |
Geographic coordinates | 29°39′28″N 91°07′01″E / 29.65778°N 91.11694°E |
Architecture | |
Founder | Songtsen Gampo |
Date established | 1649 |
Asia-Pacific | |
Extensions | 2000; 2001 |
The Potala Palace is a
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.[1] The 5th Dalai Lama started its construction in 1645[2] after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel (died 1646), pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa.[3] It may overlie the remains of an earlier fortress called the White or Red Palace on the site,[4] built by Songtsen Gampo in 637.[5]
The building measures 400 metres (1,300 ft) east-west and 350 metres (1,150 ft) north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick, and 5 metres (16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes.[6] Thirteen storeys of buildings, containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues, soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 metres (980 ft) in total above the valley floor.[7]
Tradition has it that the three main hills of
History
Potala Palace | |||||
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Tibetan པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང | | ||||
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Mongolian name | |||||
Mongolian script | ᠪᠦᠲᠠᠯᠠ ᠥᠷᠳᠥᠨ |
The site on which the Potala Palace rises is built over a palace erected by
The new palace got its name from a hill on
The palace was moderately damaged during the
The number of visitors to the palace was restricted to 1,600 a day, with opening hours reduced to six hours daily to avoid over-crowding from 1 May 2003. The palace was receiving an average of 1,500 a day prior to the introduction of the quota, sometimes peaking to over 5,000 in one day.
In February 2022, Tibetan pop star Tsewang Norbu set himself on fire in front of the Potala Palace and died. The Foreign Ministry of China has disputed this.[24]
Architecture
Built at an altitude of 3,700 m (12,100 ft), on the side of Ri Marpo ('Red Mountain') in the centre of Lhasa Valley,[25] the Potala Palace, with its vast inward-sloping walls broken only in the upper parts by straight rows of many windows, and its flat roofs at various levels, is not unlike a fortress in appearance. At the south base of the rock is a large space enclosed by walls and gates, with great porticos on the inner side. A series of tolerably easy staircases, broken by intervals of gentle ascent, leads to the summit of the rock. The whole width of this is occupied by the palace.[citation needed]
The central part of this group of buildings rises in a vast quadrangular mass above its satellites to a great height, terminating in gilt canopies similar to those on the Jokhang. This central member of Potala is called the "red palace" from its crimson colour, which distinguishes it from the rest. It contains the principal halls and chapels and shrines of past Dalai Lamas. There is in these much rich decorative painting, with jewelled work, carving and other ornamentation.
The lower white frontage on the south side of the palace was used to hoist two gigantic thangkas joined representing the figures of
The Chinese
The nine-storey
The Lhasa Zhol Pillars
Lhasa Zhol Village has two stone pillars or rdo-rings, an interior stone pillar or doring nangma, which stands within the village fortification walls, and the exterior stone pillar or doring chima,[29] which originally stood outside the South entrance to the village. Today the pillar stands neglected to the East of the Liberation Square, on the South side of Beijing Avenue.
The doring chima dates as far back as circa 764, "or only a little later",[30] and is inscribed with what may be the oldest known example of Tibetan writing.[31]
The pillar contains dedications to a famous Tibetan general and gives an account of his services to the king including campaigns against China which culminated in the brief capture of the Chinese capital
Gallery
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View showing recent Western Gate shops, highway, 2015
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View of the Potala from behind, seen from Ching Drol Chi Ling
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Potala Palace with Lhasa in the foreground
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The park, pond, and chapel behind the Potala
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Detail of decoration in Potala
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Mendicant monk at base of Potala, 1993
See also
- Patala, Patala/Potala
- Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace
- Jokhang Temple Monastery
- Dhvaja
- Kundun, a 1997 film about the Dalai Lama, chiefly set inside the palace
- Seven Years in Tibet
- Leh Palace
- Mount Putuo
- List of tallest structures built before the 20th century
Footnotes
- ^ Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization (1962). Translated into English with minor revisions by the author. 1st English edition by Faber & Faber, London (1972). Reprint: Stanford University Press (1972), p. 84
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.
- ^ a b c Karmay, Samten C. (2005). "The Great Fifth", p. 1. Downloaded as a pdf file on 16 December 2007 from: [1] Archived 15 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ W. D. Shakabpa, One hundred thousand moons, translated with an introduction by Derek F. Maher, Vol.1, BRILL, 2010 p. 48
- ^ Michael Dillon, China : a cultural and historical dictionary, Routledge, 1998, p. 184.
- ^ Booz, Elisabeth B. (1986). Tibet, pp. 62–63. Passport Books, Hong Kong.
- ISBN 0-908086-88-1.
- ISBN 0-8047-0901-7(paper).
- W. D. Shakabpa, One hundred thousand moons, translated with an introduction by Derek F. Maher, BRILL, 2010, Vol. 1, p. 123.
- ^ Gyurme Dorje, Tibet Handbook: With Bhutan, Footprint Travel Guides, 1999 pp. 101–3.
- ^ W. D. Shakabpa, One hundred thousand moons, translated with an introduction by Derek F. Maher BRILL, 2010, Vol.1, pp. 48–9.
- ^ a b Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization (1962). Translated into English with minor revisions by the author. 1st English edition by Faber & Faber, London (1972). Reprint: Stanford University Press (1972), p. 84.
- ^ Lowell Thomas, Jr. (1951). Out of this World: Across the Himalayas to Tibet. Reprint: 1952, p. 181. Macdonald & Co., London
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ Aukatsang, Youdon; Aukatsang, Kaydor (2014). The Lion From Chamdo: Remembering a True Son of Tibet. New Delhi, India: Mahayana Press. p. 8.
- ^ Larsen, Ingrid (28 October 2013). "Climbing to Great Heights - The Potala Palace". smithsonianjourneys.org. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
The Potala was spared at the insistence of Chairman Mao's comrade, Zhou Enlai, who reportedly deployed his own troops to protect it.
- ^ "II. Cultural Relics and Ancient Books and Records Are Well Preserved and Utilized". Govt. White Papers - china.org.cn. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
- ^ Oser, Decline of Potala, 2007
- ^ "Development 'not ruining' Potala". BBC News. 28 July 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "Tourist entry restriction protects Potala Palace". chinadaily.com.cn.
- ^ Potala Palace bans roof tour Archived 26 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Tibet's Potala Palace to restrict visitors to 2,300 a day Archived 20 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Tibet bans price rises at all tourist sites(05/04/07)". china-embassy.org.
- ^ "Deciphering a Tibetan Pop Star's Self-immolation". economist.com. 2 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
- ^ Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization (1962). Translated into English with minor revisions by the author. 1st English edition by Faber & Faber, London (1972). Reprint: Stanford University Press (1972), p. 206
- ^ Sertreng.
- ^ The Potala taken from the south.
- ^ "ABC Good Morning America "7 New Wonders" Page". Yahoo.
- ^ Larsen and Sinding-Larsen (2001), p. 78.
- ^ Richardson (1985), p. 2.
- ^ Coulmas, Florian (1999). "Tibetan writing". Blackwell Reference Online. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
- ^ Snellgrove and Richardson (1995), p. 91.
- ^ Richardson (1984), p. 30.
- ^ Beckwith (1987), p. 148.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lhasa". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 529–532. (See p. 530.) This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ISBN 0-691-02469-3.
- "Reading the Potala". Peter Bishop. In: Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture: A Collection of Essays. (1999) Edited by Toni Huber, pp. 367–388. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India. ISBN 81-86470-22-0.
- Das, Sarat Chandra. Lhasa and Central Tibet. (1902). Edited by W. W. Rockhill. Reprint: Mehra Offset Press, Delhi (1988), pp. 145–146; 166–169; 262-263 and illustration opposite p. 154.
- Larsen and Sinding-Larsen (2001). The Lhasa Atlas: Traditional Tibetan Architecture and Landscape, Knud Larsen and Amund Sinding-Larsen. Shambhala Books, Boston. ISBN 1-57062-867-X.
- ISBN 0-87773-376-7.
- Richardson, Hugh E. (1985). A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions. Royal Asiatic Society. ISBN 0-94759300-4.
- Snellgrove, David & Hugh Richardson. (1995). A Cultural History of Tibet. 1st edition 1968. 1995 edition with new material. Shambhala. Boston & London. ISBN 1-57062-102-0.
- von Schroeder, Ulrich. (1981). Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. (608 pages, 1244 illustrations). Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications Ltd. ISBN 962-7049-01-8
- von Schroeder, Ulrich. (2001). Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet. Vol. One: India & Nepal; Vol. Two: Tibet & China. (Volume One: 655 pages with 766 illustrations; Volume Two: 675 pages with 987 illustrations). Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, Ltd. ISBN 962-7049-07-7
- von Schroeder, Ulrich. 2008. 108 Buddhist Statues in Tibet. (212 p., 112 colour illustrations) (DVD with 527 digital photographs). Chicago: Serindia Publications. ISBN 962-7049-08-5
External links
- Potala Palace at UNESCO.org
- Potala Palace with related biographies, art, and timelines (The Treasury of Lives)
- Potala (Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library)
- Research work on possible relation with Potala, Malaya Mountains and South India
- Research work on Buddhism in India
- Google Maps location of Potala Palace
- Three-dimensional rendering of Potala Palace (in English, Spanish, and German)
- Geographic data related to Potala Palace at OpenStreetMap
- The Potala palace (archived)
- Potala Palace Tour in Tibet is one of the most prominent attractions to be visited not only by the tourists from all around the world but even to the native Tibetans and the Potala Place had been list in UNESCO's World Heritage in 1994.