Potala Palace
| Potala Palace | |
|---|---|
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Tibetan Buddhism |
| Leadership | 14th Dalai Lama |
| Location | |
| Location | Lhasa,Tibet Autonomous Region, China |
Location within Tibet Autonomous Region | |
| Geographic coordinates | 29°39′28″N 91°07′01″E / 29.65778°N 91.11694°E |
| Architecture | |
| Founder | Songtsen Gampo |
| Date established | 1649 |
| Official name | Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iv, vi |
| Designated | 1994 (18th session) |
| Reference no. | 707 |
| Region | Asia-Pacific |
| Extensions | 2000; 2001 |
Potala Palace (Tibetan: ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་, Wylie: pho brang po ta la; Chinese: 布达拉宫; pinyin: Bùdálā Gōng) is a museum complex in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region[a] of China. It was formerly the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas,[1] built in the dzong style on Marpo Ri (Red Mountain). From 1649 until 1959 it served as the Dalai Lamas' residence, after which it became chiefly a museum following the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China.
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, regarded in Buddhist tradition as the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.[2] Construction of the present structure was begun in 1645 at the order of the 5th Dalai Lama,[3] advised by Konchog Chophel, the Thirty-fifth Ganden Tripa of the Gelug school.[4] It was built on the site of an earlier palace attributed to Songtsen Gampo (traditionally dated to 637).[5][6]
Built at an altitude of about 3,700 metres on Marpo Ri ("Red Mountain") in the centre of the Lhasa Valley,[7] the palace measures 400 m east–west and 350 m north–south. Its sloping stone walls average 3 m thick, 5 m at the base, with copper poured into the foundations for earthquake protection.[8] Rising 13 storeys, the complex contains more than 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, and some 200,000 statues, reaching a height of 119 m above Marpo Ri and over 300 m above the valley floor.[9]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Charter of the Tibetans in Exile". tibet.net. Central Tibetan Administration. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
- ^ 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
- ^ Laird, Thomas. (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, p. 175. Grove Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.
- ^ Samten G. Karmay. "The Fifth Dalai Lama and his Reunification of Tibet". Tibetan Buddhism in the West: Problems of Adoption & Cross-Cultural Confusion. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
- ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa (1976). Bod kyi srid don rgyal rabs [One hundred thousand moons]. Tibetan studies library. Translated by Maher, Derek F. Leiden, Boston: Brill (published 2010). ISBN 978-90-04-17788-8 – via archive.org.
- ^ Michael Dillon, China: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary, Routledge, 1998, p. 184.
- ^ 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
- ^ Booz, Elisabeth B. (1986). Tibet, pp. 62–63. Passport Books, Hong Kong.
- ^ Buckley, Michael and Strauss, Robert. Tibet: a travel survival kit, p. 131. Lonely Planet. South Yarra, Vic., Australia. ISBN 0-908086-88-1.