From whichever direction a traveler enters the Lhasa River valley at an elevation of 3,700 meters above sea level, the eye is drawn immediately to a solitary rocky crag rising out of the plain called Marpo Ri, the Red Hill. Clinging to its slopes and soaring into the deep blue plateau sky are inward-battered granite walls several meters thick: two brilliant white wings embracing a deep crimson central mass, crowned by glittering gilded bronze roofs and bands of red-dyed tamarisk brushwood. For more than three centuries, caravans crossing the Himalayas recognized Lhasa from afar by the sunlight flashing off those golden roofs.
This is the Potala Palace (Tibetan: Po ta la, ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་, Chinese: 布達拉宮, Sino-Vietnamese: Phổ Đà Lạc Cung), the supreme architectural monument of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. Preserving two 7th-century chapels from the reign of King Songtsen Gampo, the complex took its monumental form from 1645 onward under the 5th Dalai Lama as the winter seat and golden reliquary mausoleum of the Dalai Lamas.
IMount Potalaka of Avalokiteshvara and the union of spiritual and temporal order on Red Hill
Potala Palace belongs to Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism), closely associated since the 17th century with the Gelug school (Yellow Hat tradition) while revered as a sacred sanctuary by all Tibetan Buddhist lineages (Nyingma, Kagyu, and Sakya). The name Potala derives from Sanskrit Potalaka (rendered in classical Chinese sutras as Potaluoka or Mount Putuo), the sacred mountain described in the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Garland Sutra) as the pure land where the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Tibetan: Chenrezig, Quán Thế Âm Bồ Tát) abides to hear the cries of sentient beings.
In Tibetan Buddhist cosmology, Avalokiteshvara is the patron protector deity of the Land of Snows. Both the 7th-century founder of the Tibetan Empire, King Songtsen Gampo, and the successive Dalai Lamas are venerated by devotees as human emanations (tulkus) of Avalokiteshvara manifesting in the world. Consequently, the Red Hill (Marpo Ri) where the king meditated in retreat and where the Dalai Lamas established their seat came to be identified directly with sacred Mount Potalaka.
The visual division of the facade into two contrasting colors expresses the traditional Tibetan principle of Chösi Nyindre (the union of spiritual and temporal rule): the whitewashed White Palace (Potrang Karpo) wrapping the eastern and western flanks symbolizes peace and purity, housing ceremonial halls of governance, monastic offices, seminaries, and living quarters, whereas the deep ochre-crimson Red Palace (Potrang Marpo) rising at the center symbolizes wisdom and protective power, dedicated entirely to Buddhist chapels, three-dimensional mandalas, and the eight gilded reliquary stupas of past Dalai Lamas.
According to UNESCO World Heritage dossier No. 707 and Tibetan historical chronicles, the earliest palace on the hill was erected around 637 CE (7th century) when Emperor Songtsen Gampo moved his capital to the Rasa (Lhasa) Valley and built a royal complex on Marpo Ri to welcome his brides, Princess Wencheng of the Tang dynasty and Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal. After lightning strikes in the late 8th century and warfare during the fragmentation of the Tibetan Empire in the 9th century, most of the early palace fell into ruin, leaving only two rock-founded sanctuaries embedded within the hill: Chogyel Drupuk (the Dharma King's Meditation Cave) and Phakpa Lhakhang (the Chapel of Noble Avalokiteshvara).
Eight centuries later, in 1645, the Great 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617 to 1682), assisted by his regent Desi Sangye Gyatso, initiated the grand reconstruction of Potala Palace over the ancient foundations of Marpo Ri as the seat of the Ganden Phodrang administration. The White Palace was completed in 1648, and after the 5th Dalai Lama passed away in 1682, Regent Sangye Gyatso mobilized more than seven thousand artisans and painters between 1690 and 1694 to construct the Red Palace and enshrine the 5th Dalai Lama's golden reliquary stupa.
A common misconception is to regard Potala Palace simply as a standard monastery like Drepung or Sera. In reality, Potala is a unique multi-purpose sacred citadel: within its walls stood Namgyal Monastery (the personal ritual college of the Dalai Lama specializing in Kalachakra tantric practice), a seminary for monk and lay officials, a woodblock scripture printing house, treasury vaults, winter residences, and royal reliquary stupas (chortens). Calling it Potala Palace preserves the exact meaning of Tibetan Potrang (palace) while encompassing its role as a supreme Buddhist reliquary shrine.
IIOver thirteen centuries from the Tibetan Empire's Red Hill Palace to UNESCO World Heritage
The history of Potala Palace spans two major epochs separated by nearly a millennium: its 7th-century foundation under the Tibetan Empire and its monumental reconstruction from the mid-17th century through the first half of the 20th century.
- c. 637King Songtsen Gampo builds the Red Hill PalaceEmperor Songtsen Gampo erected a palace on Marpo Ri in Lhasa. Tibetan tradition credits it with 999 rooms plus a summit chamber totaling 1,000 rooms, of which the Chogyel Drupuk meditation cave and Phakpa Lhakhang chapel survive from this period.
- 8th to 9th centuryDamage from lightning fire and imperial collapseIn the late 8th century, the timber structures were heavily damaged by lightning fire, and further destruction followed during the 9th-century collapse of the Yarlung dynasty, leaving only the two central chapels.
- 1645 to 1648The 5th Dalai Lama builds the White PalaceIn 1645, the 5th Dalai Lama (Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso) began constructing the White Palace (Potrang Karpo) on Marpo Ri. Upon its completion in 1648, he transferred his seat from Drepung Monastery to the Potala.
- 1690 to 1694Regent Sangye Gyatso constructs the Red PalaceFollowing the death of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1682, Regent Desi Sangye Gyatso kept his passing secret while mobilizing over 7,000 Tibetan, Han, and Newar stonecutters, carpenters, and goldsmiths to build the Red Palace (Potrang Marpo) and the Great Fifth's golden stupa, completed in 1694.
- 1922 to 1936Renovations under the 13th Dalai Lama and the eighth stupaThe 13th Dalai Lama (Thubten Gyatso) renovated halls in the White Palace and added two upper stories to the Red Palace in 1922, and after his passing in 1933, his monumental eighth reliquary stupa was completed in 1936.
- 1961First batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection UnitsOn 4 March 1961, the State Council of China listed Potala Palace in the first batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, followed by major structural conservation campaigns from 1989 to 1994 and 2002 to 2009.
- 1994Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage SiteUNESCO inscribed the Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa as World Heritage Site No. 707 under criteria (i), (iv), and (vi), subsequently extending the listing to include the Jokhang Temple in 2000 and Norbulingka in 2001.
Comparing international encyclopedias and archaeological surveys reveals minor numerical variations that are documented here. Regarding the overall height of Potala Palace, UNESCO, Britannica, and most scholarly works state a height of over 117 meters (117.19 meters), whereas a 21st-century digital laser survey measured the vertical elevation from the southern base wall to the golden roof crest at 115.703 meters (spanning roughly 360 to 400 meters east to west and 350 meters north to south). Regarding the heights of the two largest reliquary stupas in the Red Palace, the stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama (Zamling Gyenjik) is officially recorded by Tibetan heritage authorities and China.org.cn at 14.85 meters tall and sheathed in 3,721 kilograms of pure gold (119,082 Tibetan taels, while some older guides cite 12.6 meters), and the stupa of the 13th Dalai Lama is recorded at 14 meters for the stupa body itself (or 21 to 22 meters when the lower pedestal stories are included). Both sets of measurements are preserved here for reference.
IIIThirteen-story stone fortress architecture, the White and Red Palaces, and eight golden stupas
Potala Palace represents the pinnacle of traditional Tibetan fortress (dzong) engineering fused with Han-style gilded bracketed roofs and Newar (Nepalese) repoussé metalwork. Rising 13 stories with a total floor area exceeding 130,000 square meters, the complex contains more than 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, and approximately 200,000 statues. To support this immense load on a steep rock ridge and withstand plateau earthquakes, the lower granite walls were built up to 5 meters thick at the base (tapering to 1 to 2 meters near the top) with an inward batter of roughly 10 degrees that accentuates the palace's soaring profile. Remarkably, 17th-century Tibetan builders poured molten copper into the foundation stone joints to lock the masonry against seismic shear, while the upper friezes beneath the rooflines were constructed from tightly bound bundles of tamarisk twigs (penma brushwood dried, crushed, and dyed deep crimson), reducing weight on the upper walls while shedding rain and snow.
The seven-story whitewashed complex completed in 1648 flanking the central mass. On its fourth floor lies the Eastern Great Hall (Tsomchen Shar), the largest hall in the White Palace covering 717 square meters supported by 44 timber columns, where the enthronement ceremonies of successive Dalai Lamas took place. On the seventh and highest floor are the East and West Sunshine Apartments, the sun-drenched winter living and Audience chambers of the Dalai Lamas. Before the White Palace opens the 1,600-square-meter Deyangshar stone courtyard used for sacred Cham mask dances.
The central ochre-crimson complex completed in 1694, devoted wholly to Buddhist worship and the reliquary stupas. At its heart lies the Western Great Hall (Sishi Phuntsok), the largest hall in the entire Potala covering over 725 square meters and supported by 48 brocade-wrapped timber columns. Its surrounding galleries are painted with 698 murals chronicling the life and deeds of the 5th Dalai Lama, including his historic 1652 meeting with the Qing Shunzhi Emperor in Beijing.
The two oldest surviving chambers from King Songtsen Gampo's 7th-century palace, situated at the highest and most sacred core of the Red Palace. Chogyel Drupuk is the natural rock cavern where Songtsen Gampo meditated, preserving ancient images of the king and his queens Wencheng and Bhrikuti. Directly above it stands Phakpa Lhakhang, enshrining the Potala's most revered treasure: a natural sandalwood statue of Noble Avalokiteshvara (Arya Lokeshvara).
The Red Palace houses 8 stupas preserving the embalmed bodies (treated with saffron, camphor, and Tibetan salt) of the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th Dalai Lamas (the 1st through 4th are entombed at Drepung and Tashilhunpo, while the 6th passed away en route to Qinghai). The grandest is the Stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama (Zamling Gyenjik, 'Sole Ornament of the World'), standing 14.85 meters tall across three stories, clad in 3,721 kilograms of pure gold and encrusted with over 18,000 pearls, diamonds, corals, amber, and turquoise stones.
The Red Palace also contains esoteric chapels housing three elaborate three-dimensional cast-gold, silver, and copper mandalas of the tantric deities Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, and Yamantaka, alongside tens of thousands of Kangyur and Tengyur volumes written in gold, silver, and ground coral ink, as well as ancient Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts (pattra) brought from India.
| Feature | Specification and scale | Reference sources |
|---|---|---|
| Altitude and building height | 3,700 m elevation, 117 m (115.7 m) building height, 13 stories | UNESCO (dossier 707), Britannica, Potala survey records |
| Footprint and floor area | 360 to 400 m east-west, 350 m north-south, over 130,000 sq m floor area | Travel China Guide, UNESCO |
| Granite wall thickness | 5 m thick at base (with molten copper joints), tapering to 1 to 2 m at top | Britannica, China.org.cn |
| Stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama | 14.85 m tall (3 stories), 3,721 kg pure gold, over 18,000 precious gems | China.org.cn, Travel China Guide |
| Dalai Lama reliquary stupas | 8 stupas (5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th Dalai Lamas) | UNESCO, Britannica |
| Satellite coordinates | 29.6578° N, 91.1169° E | Wikidata (Q71229), OpenStreetMap |
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
Tibetan Buddhism does not employ Chinese compass feng shui directly, but possesses its own sacred geomantic tradition known as Sa-che (Sa dpyad, tantric earth-examination combined with elemental astrological principles introduced to Tibet in the 7th century during the era of Princess Wencheng). In classical Tibetan texts, the Lhasa Valley is read as an eight-petaled lotus mandala in the sky and an eight-spoked Dharma wheel upon the earth. The section below compares that Tibetan geomantic reading with the library's traditional landform feng shui perspective.
Viewed across the macro-topography of the Lhasa Valley at coordinates 29.6578° N, 91.1169° E, the Lhasa plain lies cradled within the snow-capped peaks of the Nyenchen Tanglha range. Surrounding mountain ridges ring the valley like eight lotus petals sheltering the flat basin, across which the Kyi Chu (Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo) flows from east to west on the south side, forming a broad, tranquil water bright hall (minh đường thủy). Rising abruptly from the middle of this level valley floor are three rocky hills symbolizing the Rigsum Gonpo (the Three Protectors of Vajrayana): Marpo Ri (Red Hill, bearing Potala Palace) representing Avalokiteshvara (Compassion), Chakpo Ri (Iron Hill to the southwest) representing Vajrapani (Power), and Bamari representing Manjushri (Wisdom). In classical East Asian landform reading, a solitary rocky peak rising out of a flat plain encircled by a major river is termed a sudden star-peak in a level plain (Bình Dương Đột Khởi tinh phong), where the subterranean dragon vein (long mạch) gathers the valley's vital energy into a natural qi-gathering node (tụ huyệt).
In terms of mountain orientation and architectural facing, the crag of Marpo Ri is shaped like a recumbent elephant or a snow lion raising its head. The entire Potala Palace is built sitting north and facing due south, backed by the higher northern mountain range (with the Dragon King Pool, or Lukhang lake, lying immediately behind the northern foot of the hill, formed when earth and clay were excavated in the 17th century, creating a calm rear Black Tortoise water). The southern facade of the Potala opens wide toward the sun-drenched Lhasa Valley, taking the Kyi Chu River as its bright hall and the southern mountain range as its front screen (tiền án). Because its 10-degree inward-sloping granite walls grow directly out of the natural bedrock, human masonry and mountain crag merge into a single silhouette: the mountain serves as the plinth of the palace, and the palace becomes the crown of the mountain, standing unshaken against high-altitude gales and earthquakes for over three centuries.
VMajor Tibetan Buddhist festivals and the autumn whitewashing of the palace walls
Ritual life around Potala Palace follows the Tibetan lunisolar calendar (the Phugpa system derived from the Kalachakra Tantra alongside Indian and Chinese astronomy). Every day, pilgrims spinning hand-held prayer wheels circumambulate the base of Red Hill clockwise along the Tsekor and Lingkor paths while chanting the six-syllable mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. Across the year, five major religious festivals and communal observances center upon the Potala.
| Date | Calendar system | Festival | Observances at Potala Palace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st month (especially days 1 to 15) | Tibetan calendar (Losar and Monlam) | Losar Tibetan New Year and Great Prayer Festival | At the start of the Tibetan New Year, monks hold prayer assemblies in the great halls of the Potala, raise fresh lungta prayer flags, and offer sculpted butter tormas before the reliquary stupas. |
| 4th month (culminating on the 15th full moon day) | Tibetan calendar (Saga Dawa) | Saga Dawa Sacred Month | Commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha. Tens of thousands of pilgrims from across Tibet, Qinghai, and Sichuan perform full-body prostration circuits around the Tsekor path at the foot of the Potala. |
| End of the 6th month into early 7th month | Tibetan calendar | Shoton (Yogurt) Festival and Giant Thangka Unveiling | Marking the end of the monastic summer retreat with the unfurling of monumental silk Buddha thangkas and performances of traditional Lhamo Tibetan opera. |
| 9th month (after the summer rains, before the 22nd day) | Tibetan calendar (prior to Lhabab Duchen) | Annual Autumn Whitewashing of Potala Palace | Ahead of Lhabab Duchen (celebrating the Buddha's descent from the Trayastrimsa Heaven on the 22nd day of the 9th month), hundreds of artisans and volunteers recoat the White and Red Palaces with a mixture of lime whitewash blended with yak milk, brown sugar, honey, and saffron, protecting the masonry from frost while earning religious merit. |
| 25th day of the 10th month | Tibetan calendar | Ganden Ngamchoe (Butter Lamp Festival) | Commemorating the parinirvana of Master Je Tsongkhapa (1357 to 1419), founder of the Gelug school. At nightfall, thousands of yak-butter lamps illuminate the window ledges of Potala Palace and rooftops across Lhasa. |
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Số 35 đường Beijing Zhonglu (Bắc Kinh Trung Lộ), núi Marpo Ri (Hồng Sơn), quận Chengguan (Thành Quan), thành phố Lhasa, Khu tự trị Tây Tạng (西藏自治区拉萨市城关区北京中路35号)
- Getting there
- Located in central Lhasa on Beijing Middle Road (Beijing Zhonglu). Airport shuttle buses run directly from Lhasa Gonggar Airport (about 60 km away) to the foot of Red Hill, and city bus routes 1, 13, and 14 connect Lhasa Railway Station to the Potala square.
- Coordinates
- 29.6578, 91.1169
Potala Palace stands at 3,700 meters above sea level where the air is thin, and the visitor route requires climbing more than a thousand steep stone steps. Visitors are advised to spend at least one or two days acclimatizing in Lhasa before ascending the palace, walking slowly and carrying warm water. When circumambulating the hill or walking through the chapels of the White and Red Palaces, always move clockwise (from left to right), remove hats, avoid shorts or short skirts, step over thresholds rather than on them, never point a single finger at sacred images, and strictly observe the ban on photography and filming inside all chapels and stupa halls.
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?Quick Questions
What does the name Potala mean and how is it connected to Buddhism
The name Potala derives from Sanskrit Potalaka, the sacred mountain described in the Avatamsaka Sutra as the pure abode of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig). Because Tibetan Buddhist tradition reveres both King Songtsen Gampo and the Dalai Lamas as emanations of Avalokiteshvara, the Red Hill (Marpo Ri) on which the palace stands was named Potala.
What is the difference between the White Palace and the Red Palace
The White Palace (Potrang Karpo, completed in 1648) forms the whitewashed eastern and western wings used for ceremonial administration, monastic offices, seminaries, and the Dalai Lama's winter living quarters. The Red Palace (Potrang Marpo, completed in 1694) rises at the center painted in deep ochre-crimson and is devoted entirely to religious worship, housing Buddhist chapels, mandalas, and the eight gilded reliquary stupas of past Dalai Lamas.
How many reliquary stupas of past Dalai Lamas are enshrined inside Potala Palace
The Red Palace enshrines 8 reliquary stupas (chortens) containing the preserved bodies of the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th Dalai Lamas. The largest and most opulent is the stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama, which rises 14.85 meters across three stories, is sheathed in 3,721 kilograms of pure gold, and is inlaid with more than 18,000 precious gems.
Where are the oldest 7th-century chambers inside Potala Palace located
Although most of the standing structure dates from 1645 to 1694, Potala Palace preserves two intact 7th-century sanctuaries from King Songtsen Gampo's reign near the northwestern summit of the Red Palace: the Chogyel Drupuk rock meditation cave where the king meditated, and directly above it the Phakpa Lhakhang chapel housing a sacred sandalwood statue of Avalokiteshvara.
Why do Tibetans mix milk, honey, and sugar into the whitewash used on Potala Palace's walls
Every autumn in the ninth Tibetan month (after the summer monsoon rains and ahead of the Lhabab Duchen festival), artisans and volunteers recoat the white, red, and yellow walls of the Potala. Blending yak milk, brown sugar, honey, and saffron into the lime wash increases adhesion and weather resistance against plateau frost while serving as a devotional offering of pure substances to the Buddhas.