Potala Palace
The Potala Palace, the most widely recognized symbol of Tibet and also the symbol of Lhasa, is a large-scale castle style palace complex. It is surely the top travel destination in Tibet. The Potala Palace was originally built to honor the marriage of the 33rd King of Tibet, Soongtsan Gampo to Princess Wen Cheng of the Tang Dynasty. After the reconstruction in 17th century, the Potala had been Dalai Lama's residence, as well as the theocracy center of politics and religion center of Tibet, until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, after an invasion and failed uprising in 1959. The Potala has a distinctive Tibetan style, perched on the mountains. The original palace was damaged but restored to as it appears today. The Potala Palace collects numerous treasures and is known as a temple of art. In 1961, the Potala Palace was listed as the first batch of national key cultural preservation center, and then as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.
The Potala Palace, covering a total area of 36 thousand square meters with the elevation of over 3700 meters, is the highest and largest palace-style complex in the world. The main building of the Potala Palace is 117 meters high with actually 9 layers consisting of White House and Red House. The whole complex has over ten thousand pillars. Inside the Potala Palace there are many religious symbols, antiques, colorful murals depicting different scenes associated with Buddhism and the history of Tibet showing the relation between Tibetan government and the central state of Ming and Qing Dynasties in the past. The Potala Palace is attracting more and more travelers and pilgrims from all over the world. To protect the palace, the palace only accepts 2300 visitors every day. Location: No.35 Beijingzhonglu, Chengguan District, Lhasa, Tibet Contact number: +86 891-6822896 Tickets: RMB100 Opening hours: 09:00-16:00
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