Potala Palace - Potala-Palast

The Potala Palace is the most famous structure in Tibet in the heart of Lhasa

background

In the middle of the city on the 130 m high Marpori lies the Potala, the largest building in the city, once the center of the spiritual and secular power of Tibet. It is also called the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama, the seat of those Buddhist lamas who are the incarnation of the Bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara be valid. This once was in India on the holy mountain Pattala, pure land, lived.
The first building on the Hill of Power dates back to the 7th century. Under the 5th Dalai Lama, the fortress, which had been destroyed in the meantime, was fundamentally expanded and renewed from 1645 onwards. From that time on, the Potala was the seat of the Dalai Lama, and it remained so until 1959 when the Dalai Lama went into exile. The confusion of peaceful liberation and the cultural revolution passed the Potala largely unscathed. The Potala has been one of the monuments of the People's Republic of China since 1961, and in 1994 it came together with the Jokhang Temple and the Norbulingka Summer Palace to the UNESCO world cultural heritage.

The construction

The palace extends around the entire hill of the Marpori, it has a footprint of around 350 by 300 meters, and supposedly there are 999 rooms inside. In total, it is 13 stories high, the foundation walls should be 5 m thick and partly reinforced with copper. Only the top 5 floors were used for living or representation purposes, the lower floors were storage rooms for grain and yak butter.
The public is open to the White palace, part of the government of Tibet was housed here, the audience hall and rooms for government officials were located here. The Red palace includes the religious part of the Potala. The private rooms of the last Dalai Lama were also in it, and there are also stupas of his predecessors here. The stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama is particularly magnificent, it is richly decorated with gold and extends over 3 floors.

Visit to the Potala

The Potala is not only the most important destination of several million tourists each year, the Buddhist pilgrims also try to visit the last abode of their spiritual leader. The easiest way for tourists is to get the tickets from their local guide in good time; the reservation must have been made the day before at the latest with the passport number. You can also do this yourself on the southwest side of the complex. Reservations can also be made through larger hotels.
The access to the Potala is on the southeast side of the structure. After presenting the passport and with security checks like at an airport, you finally get to the garden and the outside stairs. When visiting, you have to be on time, the tickets are only valid for 1 hour of viewing time, this starts at the top when you enter the White Palace. If you stay too long at certain points, you will be reminded by monks in charge of the supervision to move on.

literature

• Karl-Heinz Everding ; Dumont art guide (Ed.): Tibet. Ostfildern: DuMont travel publisher, 2007 (4th edition), ISBN 9783770148035 ; 392 pages.

Web links

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