The Potala Palace in 2009 - better weather then
The Potala Palace (布达拉宫) in Lhasa is a landmark. Most people have seen a picture of it. After 14th
Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising the Potala has become
a museum and World Heritage Site. The construction had been started under the 5th
Dalai Lama in 1645. The Potala is a dzong, like the one in Shigatse
(reconstructed).
The Potala contains over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about
200,000 statues; it measures 400x350x300 m. The walls are 3-5 m thick. So it is
a fortress or dzong.
I’ve also visited the Potala 20 years ago and with the small number of
tourists one could see much more than today. Today you can hardly take
photographs inside and other restrictions apply. For instance you cannot take
water or other fluids into the Potala, but you can buy water inside. Or you
have to move through the interior in a given time range.
Nevertheless it’s still worth while visiting the Potala.
Wall painting - interior
Entrance, already high up
An unusual group, veterans visiting the vibrant Votala
The Potala and its reflection in a pond
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