Tuesday, August 28, 2018

The Potala Palace in Lhasa

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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