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Potala Palace

Coordinates: 29°39′28″N 91°07′01″E / 29.65778°N 91.11694°E / 29.65778; 91.11694
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Potala Palace
Religion
AffiliationTibetan Buddhism
Leadership14th Dalai Lama
Location
LocationLhasa,Tibet Autonomous Region, China
Potala Palace is located in Tibet
Potala Palace
Location within Tibet Autonomous Region
Geographic coordinates29°39′28″N 91°07′01″E / 29.65778°N 91.11694°E / 29.65778; 91.11694
Architecture
FounderSongtsen Gampo
Date established1649; 376 years ago (1649)
Official nameHistoric Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa
TypeCultural
Criteriai, iv, vi
Designated1994 (18th session)
Reference no.707
RegionAsia-Pacific
Extensions2000; 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]

History

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Context

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The Dalai Lama inhabited an estate at Drepung Monastery known as Ganden Podrang.[10] During 1621 Lhasa was made the jurisdiction of Ganden Podrang by Tsang.[11] During the third month of 1642 Gushri Khan Dhamma King, Holder of the Faith, had taken from the [12] Sde-srid Tsang-pa regime of the Garma Gagyu Sect [13][b] (Tsang) by military forces the places in Tibet, which was the Land of Wooden Doors, held by that governship; and then offered the thirteen parts of Tibet, which is the whole, to the Dalai Lama.[12] On the fifth day of the fourth month of the Water-Horse year in the 11th cycle[c] the Dalai Lama was made sovereign of Tibet on the golden fearless snow lion throne.[17] Sometime during or soon after 1644, the Dalai Lama, the then regent of Ganden Podrang,[d] and Gushri Khan all decided to build a palace.[18]

Potala Palace
Tibetan Uchen and Umê scripts
Latinized Tibetan / Wylie Latinization of Tibetan
Lantsa and Devanagari scripts
Mongol Cyrillic script
traditional Mongol script, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese
Mongolian

The Potala is built on the site of palace Songtsen Gampo on the Red Hill.[5][7] The Potala contains two chapels on its northwest corner that conserve parts of the earlier palace. One is the Phakpa Lhakhang, the other the Chogyel Drupuk, a recessed cavern identified as Songtsen Gampo's meditation cave.[19] Ngawang Lozang Gyatso,[20] the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, started the construction of the modern Potala Palace in 1645,[3][e] after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel, pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa.[26]

The external structure was built in 3 years, while the interior, together with its furnishings, took 45 years to complete.[27]

Inhabitation

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The new palace got its name from a hill on Cape Comorin at the southern tip of India—a rocky point sacred to the bodhisattva of compassion, who is known as Avalokitesvara, or Chenrezi.[28][f]

The Dalai Lama and his government moved into the Potrang Karpo ('White Palace') in 1649.[26] The Potala was used as a winter palace by the Dalai Lama from that time. Construction lasted until 1694,[29] some twelve years after his death.[29] The Potrang Marpo ('Red Palace') was added between 1690 and 1694.[29] Kalachakra Mandala was constructed during the 1690s.[30]

The Yamantaka Mandala was made during 1751.[30]

Modern

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The lower white frontage on the south side of the palace was used to hoist two gigantic thangkas joined representing the figures of Tara and Sakyamuni during the Sertreng Festival on the 30th day of the second Tibetan month.[31][32]

Amongst at least one group of Tibetans c. 1950 the "Potala" is known colloquially as "Peak Potala" (Tse Potala), or most commonly as "the Peak".[33]

  • Potala Palace in the 1920s
    Potala Palace in the 1920s
  • The Sertreng ceremony on 28 April 1949 with thangkas on the front of the palace
    The Sertreng ceremony on 28 April 1949 with thangkas on the front of the palace

Under the People's Republic of China

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The palace was moderately damaged during the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese in 1959, when Chinese shells were launched into the palace's windows.[34][g] It escaped damage during the Cultural Revolution in 1966 through the personal intervention of Zhou Enlai,[36][37] who was then the Premier of the People's Republic of China. According to Tibetan historian Tsering Woeser, the palace, which harboured "over 100,000 volumes of scriptures and historical documents" and "many store rooms for housing precious objects, handicrafts, paintings, wall hangings, statues, and ancient armour", "was almost robbed empty".[38]

The Potala Palace was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994.

Rapid modernisation has been a concern for UNESCO, however, which expressed concern over the building of modern structures immediately around the palace which threaten the palace's unique atmosphere.[39] The Chinese government responded by enacting a rule barring the building of any structure taller than 21 metres in the area. UNESCO was also concerned over the materials used during the restoration of the palace, which commenced in 2002 at a cost of RMB180 million (US$22.5 million), although the palace's director, Qiangba Gesang, has clarified that only traditional materials and craftsmanship were used. The palace has also received restoration works between 1989 and 1994, costing RMB55 million (US$6.875 million).

The Potala Palace in 2008
View showing recent Western Gate shops, highway, 2015

The number of visitors to the palace was restricted to 1,600 a day, with opening hours reduced to six hours daily to avoid over-crowding from 1 May 2003. The palace was receiving an average of 1,500 a day prior to the introduction of the quota, sometimes peaking to over 5,000 in one day.[40] Visits to the structure's roof were banned after restoration efforts were completed in 2006 to avoid further structural damage.[41] Visitorship quotas were raised to 2,300 daily to accommodate a 30% increase in visitorship since the opening of the Qingzang railway into Lhasa on 1 July 2006, but the quota is often reached by mid-morning.[42] Opening hours were extended during the peak period in the months of July to September, where over 6,000 visitors would descend on the site.[43]

Architecture

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The Potala has inward-sloping walls with straight rows of many windows at the upper parts of the walls, and flat roofs at various levels. At the south base of the rock is a large space enclosed by walls and gates with great porticos on the inner side. A series of staircases with intervals leads to the summit of the rock. The whole width of this is occupied by the palace.[citation needed]

The central part of the group of buildings is a quadrangular terminating in gilt canopies similar to those on Jokhang Temple Monastery. The crimson coloured central member of Potala is called the "red palace" and contains the principal halls and chapels and shrines of past Dalai Lamas.

The colours: red, white, yellow, are caused by the application of limestone.[5]

White Potala

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Red Potala

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Interior

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  • Detail of decoration
    Detail of decoration
  • A copy of 13th-14th century Buddha statue
    A copy of 13th-14th century Buddha statue
  • The former quarters of the Dalai Lama. The figure in the throne represents Tenzin Gyatso, the incumbent Dalai Lama. The throne bears the Chinese character 夀, meaning "long life".
    The former quarters of the Dalai Lama. The figure in the throne represents Tenzin Gyatso, the incumbent Dalai Lama. The throne bears the Chinese character 夀, meaning "long life".

Grounds

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  • View from behind, seen from Ching Drol Chi Ling
    View from behind, seen from Ching Drol Chi Ling
  • The park, pond, and Temple behind the Potala
    The park, pond, and Temple behind the Potala

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The region is variously known in English as Tibet, in Tibetan as Bod (བོད་), and in Chinese as Xīzàng (西藏). For details on these names and their usage, see Etymology of Tibet.
  2. ^ Founded by Dusum Khyenpa,[14] Garma Gagyu is Tibetan Buddhism[15]
  3. ^ This is 2186 after the Compassionate One thoroughly passed through sorrow [16]
  4. ^ the regent was: Sönam Chöpel
  5. ^ Tibetan calendar:[21] (ja[22]) birdth[21] (shing[22]) woodth[21] of the (chu chik[23]) 11th (rab byung) 60-years cycle.[21] Nyatri Tsengpo/Royal Year[24][25] (if calculated by 100 year cycle): 1645-127 is anno domini: 1518
  6. ^ Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet". Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (Wylie: bla ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjusri, and Marpo Ri, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Avalokiteśvara.[28]
  7. ^ Before Chamdo Jampa Kalden was shot and taken prisoner by soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, he witnessed "Chinese cannon shells began landing on Norbulingka past midnight on 19 March 1959... The sky lit up as the Chinese shells hit the Chakpori Medical College and the Potala."[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Charter of the Tibetans in Exile". tibet.net. Central Tibetan Administration. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Laird, Thomas. (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, p. 175. Grove Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b c 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.
  6. ^ Michael Dillon, China: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary, Routledge, 1998, p. 184.
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ Booz, Elisabeth B. (1986). Tibet, pp. 62–63. Passport Books, Hong Kong.
  9. ^ Buckley, Michael and Strauss, Robert. Tibet: a travel survival kit, p. 131. Lonely Planet. South Yarra, Vic., Australia. ISBN 0-908086-88-1.
  10. ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: p.327
  11. ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: p.334
  12. ^ a b Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: 346-7
  13. ^ Jiawei, Wang; Gyaincain, Nyima. "The Historical Status of China's Tibet Chapter IV The Sovereign-Subject Relationship Between the Qing Dynasty Emperor and the Dalai Lama". BPA Studies. China Intercontinental Press (republished online by: Washington Institute of China Studies & pkp.sfu.ca/software/ojs/ The Public Knowledge Project a Core Facility of Simon Fraser University). Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  14. ^ "First reincarnated Rinpoche in Tibetan Buddhism". m.tibet.cn. China Tibet Online: Rongfeng 2008, Guang’anmenwai St.No.305, Xicheng District, Beijing, China. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  15. ^ "Curpu Monastery". chinaculture.org. Ministry of Culture, P.R.China. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  16. ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: 347
  17. ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: 347
  18. ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: 350
  19. ^ Gyurme Dorje, Tibet Handbook: With Bhutan, Footprint Travel Guides, 1999 pp. 101–3.
  20. ^ Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa: p.331
  21. ^ a b c d Taina Akka. "Table of Years 1567-2046". tactus.dk. Copenhagen, Denmark: tactus.dk/tacom/taina.htm. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  22. ^ a b "Tibetan to Gregorian Calendar Converter". www.thlib.org. The Tibetan and Himilayan Library. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  23. ^ Penpa Lhamo; Amit A Shapira. "Writing Numbers". tibetan101.com. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  24. ^ "Tibetan astrology: a history". www.men-tsee-khang.org. men-tsee-khang Conference on the Tibetan system of medicine, astronomy and astrology. 8 June 2023. Archived from the original on 11 March 2025. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  25. ^ "Timeline". tibetmuseum.org. Central Tibetan Administration campus, Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India: The Tibet Museum. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  26. ^ a b Karmay, Samten C. (2005). "The Great Fifth", p. 1. Downloaded as a pdf file on 16 December 2007 from: Archived 15 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ W. D. Shakabpa, One hundred thousand moons, translated with an introduction by Derek F. Maher BRILL, 2010, Vol.1, pp. 48–9.
  28. ^ a b Stein, R. A. (1972). Tibetan Civilization, p. 228. Translated by J. E. Stapleton Driver. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-8047-0901-7 (paper).
  29. ^ a b c 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.
  30. ^ a b Henss, Michael; Pema Namdol THAYE. "108 OBJECT ESSAYS". rubinmuseum.org. Project Himalayan Art. The Rubin Museum of Art. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  31. ^ Pitt Rivers Museum Sertreng web.prm.ox.ac.uk University of Oxford
  32. ^ Hugh E. Richardson; Pitt Rivers Museum. The Potala taken from the south web.prm.ox.ac.uk University of Oxford
  33. ^ Lowell Thomas, Jr. (1951). Out of this World: Across the Himalayas to Tibet. Reprint: 1952, p. 181. Macdonald & Co., London
  34. ^ Topping, Audrey (9 December 1979). "Journey to Tibet: Hidden splendors of an exiled deity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  35. ^ Aukatsang, Youdon; Aukatsang, Kaydor (2014). The Lion From Chamdo: Remembering a True Son of Tibet. New Delhi, India: Mahayana Press. p. 8.
  36. ^ Larsen, Ingrid (28 October 2013). "Climbing to Great Heights - The Potala Palace". smithsonianjourneys.org. Retrieved 8 May 2021. The Potala was spared at the insistence of Chairman Mao's comrade, Zhou Enlai, who reportedly deployed his own troops to protect it.
  37. ^ "II. Cultural Relics and Ancient Books and Records Are Well Preserved and Utilized". Govt. White Papers - china.org.cn. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  38. ^ Oser, Decline of Potala, 2007
  39. ^ "Development 'not ruining' Potala". BBC News. 28 July 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  40. ^ "Tourist entry restriction protects Potala Palace". chinadaily.com.cn.
  41. ^ Potala Palace bans roof tour Archived 26 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ Tibet's Potala Palace to restrict visitors to 2,300 a day Archived 20 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  43. ^ "Tibet bans price rises at all tourist sites(05/04/07)". Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Iraq. Archived from the original on 11 March 2025.

Sources

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  • Beckwith, Christopher I. (1987). The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 0-691-02469-3.
  • Bishop, Peter. "Reading the Potala". In: Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture: A Collection of Essays. (1999) Edited by Toni Huber, pp. 367–388. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, H.P., India. ISBN 81-86470-22-0.
  • Das, Sarat Chandra. Lhasa and Central Tibet. (1902). Edited by W. W. Rockhill. Reprint: Mehra Offset Press, Delhi (1988), pp. 145–146; 166–169; 262–263 and illustration opposite p. 154.
  • Larsen and Sinding-Larsen (2001). The Lhasa Atlas: Traditional Tibetan Architecture and Landscape, Knud Larsen and Amund Sinding-Larsen. Shambhala Books, Boston. ISBN 1-57062-867-X.
  • Richardson, Hugh E. (1984) Tibet & Its History. 1st edition 1962. Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Shambhala Publications. Boston ISBN 0-87773-376-7.
  • Richardson, Hugh E. (1985). A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions. Royal Asiatic Society. ISBN 0-94759300-4.
  • Snellgrove, David & Hugh Richardson. (1995). A Cultural History of Tibet. 1st edition 1968. 1995 edition with new material. Shambhala. Boston & London. ISBN 1-57062-102-0.
  • von Schroeder, Ulrich. (1981). Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. (608 pages, 1244 illustrations). Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications Ltd. ISBN 962-7049-01-8
  • von Schroeder, Ulrich. (2001). Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet. Vol. One: India & Nepal; Vol. Two: Tibet & China. (Volume One: 655 pages with 766 illustrations; Volume Two: 675 pages with 987 illustrations). Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, Ltd. ISBN 962-7049-07-7
  • von Schroeder, Ulrich. 2008. 108 Buddhist Statues in Tibet. (212 p., 112 colour illustrations) (DVD with 527 digital photographs). Chicago: Serindia Publications. ISBN 962-7049-08-5
  • Yule, Henry; Waddell, Lawrence.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lhasa". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 529–532. (See p. 530.)
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