Interesting Facts about Potala Palace in Tibet

 Unique Facts about Potala Palace, the Grand Palace in Tibet

      The Potala Palace is a building considered a landmark and icon of Tibet. This building is a huge palace which consists of many houses, towers, chapels, etc. The Potala Palace is the tallest palace in the world, and is known for its unique and spectacular architectural style, making it recognized as one of the most beautiful architectural buildings in the world.

                                                         Image Source: Wikimedia.org

The Potala Palace, located in Lhasa, Tibet, was once an imperial palace, seat of government, and monastery, and is now one of the most popular tourist destinations for tourists. This building also holds various interesting historical facts to discuss.

Potala Palace has two main parts: the red palace and the white palace. Both have their own functions.

The White Palace was built earlier and was used for the offices of the Tibetan Government, meeting halls, and the residence of the Dalai Lama.

The Red Palace is used as the house of prayer for the Dalai Lama and is dedicated to Buddhist learning activities.

Although at first Potala Palace was built with the reason of 'love', but as it developed it became more of a spiritual place. Once upon a time, the Potala Palace was an imperial palace, monastery, and seat of government—unlike now, where it is generally visited to pray.

Built by the 5th Dalai Lama

The construction of the Potala palace began in 1645 on the orders of the 5th Dalai Lama named Lozang Gyatso, this spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism decided to build the palace due to its unique location.

The location is also considered perfect for use as the center of government, because of its location right between the monastery of Drepung, Sera, and the city of Lhasa.

Inside the building of the Potala Palace is the stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama with a height of 14.85 meters, which is plated with 3,721 kg of gold, and gems adorn the stupa, such as pearls, coral, amber, and agate. The stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama is the most luxurious and most valuable.

No Building Can Be Taller Than The Potala Palace

The Potala Palace is built 117 meters above the mountain, with impressive zigzagging steps. When you take a walk around the city buildings of Lhasa, you will not find any buildings taller than the top of the Potala Palace.

In order to preserve the unique atmosphere surrounding the palace, a ban has been imposed on building buildings over 21 meters high. This is a sign of respect for the holy site. Therefore, you will not see a skyscraper that towers above the palace.

It took 48 years to finish the entire palace

Just like other magnificent buildings, the Potala Palace took years to complete. The main structure of this building took about 3 years to complete, but for the whole building to the interior took a total of 45 years.

This means that the new palace was actually completed in 1694 CE, or 12 years after the 5th Dalai Lama's death. That is, the 5th Dalai Lama was unable to see the palace he had ordered it to be built.

Potala was the residence of the 10 Dalai Lamas for 317 years

In 1642, after the 5th Dalai Lama had built the Potala Palace, he transferred his government to the palace. Since then, the Potala Palace has served as the Dalai Lama's residence, government office, and important place for religious activities.

However, after the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, the Potala Palace became much more like a museum. In total, the Potala Palace has been the residence of 10 generations of the Dalai Lama over a period of 317 years.