Potala Palace is one of the main attractions. Potala Palace - "The Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama

– priceless treasure Tibet, sama th high ancienta palace in China and throughout the world, reaching a height of 3,767 meters (12,359 feet). It is located on Red Hill - Marpo Ri to the center e Lhasa - and the historical capital of Tibet. The Potala got its name in honor of the holy mountain in South India in Sanskrit "Avalokiteshvara's abode (Buddha of Mercy)."

The palace was built on the site where the ruler of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, used to meditate. The first structure was built here in 637. Later, he decides to make Lhasa the capital of Tibet and, according to legend, in honor of the betrothal to Princess Wen Cheng of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) in the 7th century, Songtsen Gampo builds a 9-storey building - a palace with thousands of rooms.

Later, with the collapse of the Songtsen Gampa dynasty, the ancient palace was almost destroyed in the wars. The image we see today is the architecture of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). The Potala Palace consists of 2 parts, the Red Palace is the center and the White Palace is located as two wings.

Red Palace or Potrang marpo- the most high part Palace, it is dedicated to teaching and religious Buddhist prayers.

By design, she represents majesty and strength. The Red Palace consists of a complex arrangement of various halls, chapels and libraries on many levels with many small galleries and winding corridors: The great West Hall, Dharma cave, saint's chapel, tomb of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, etc.

The Great West Hall - the largest hall of the Potala Palace , with beautiful frescoes on its inner walls. There are three chapels around it, the chapels of the East, the chapels of the North, and the chapels of the South. Dharma Cave and Saint Chapel are only two surviving structures from the 7th century with statues of Songtsen Gamp and Princess Wen Cheng inside.

White Palace or Potrang Karpo once served as the administrative building of local government, as well as the living quarters of the Dalai Lama. Its walls are painted white to convey peace and quiet. Big hall The east on the fourth floor was the site of special political and religious events.

The fifth and sixth floors are used as living quarters and offices of the regents while the seventh floor, the upper one, is the Dalai Lama's living quarters, in two parts, called the Eastern Chamber of the Sunshine and the Western Chamber of the Sunshine due to the abundance of sunlight.

The Potala Palace has other structures, including schools of Buddhist logic, seminaries, printing houses, gardens, courtyards, and even prisons. For over 300 years, the palace has been home to many cultural relics such as frescoes, stupas, statues, tanks and rare sutras.

Potala Palace today

- the center of Tibetan religion, politics, history and art, and today - a large-scale local history museum. It contains over 2,500 square meters of frescoes, about 1,000 stupas, over 10,000 sculptures and about 10,000 tanka paintings. The collection also includes paintings, wood carvings, classical scriptures, gold, jade, and local artisans that reflect the wisdom and intelligence of the Tibetans. Burial stupas were built here to preserve the remains of the Dalai Lamas at the time of their death.

There are currently eight luxurious stupas, one for each Dalai Lama, except for the sixth who were removed from this service. Burial stupas differ in size, but have the same structure, consisting of an upper part, a body and a base. All stupas are adorned with gold and precious stones. The most magnificent of all is the stupa of the fifth Dalai Lama.

It stands almost 15 meters (about 49 feet) high and is adorned with 15,000 pearls, carnelian and precious stones. The murals in the corridors depict historical figures, religious legends, Buddhist stories, folk customs and architecture.

The ancient kings of Tibet were mostly mystics, and many of them were tied by strong ties with the wonderful land of Ergor, or Shambhala.

I don't know exactly what influenced the decision of King Songtsen Gampo to choose the Red Mountain for his palace, but it is known that he built the Potala on the site of his meditation. This cave of his meditations is still safe and sound, despite the various periods of Tibetan history, which did not spare the Potala.

The name "Potala" is borrowed from Sanskrit, and in Tibetan it sounds like "Potola" or "Puto", which means " mystical mountain". It consists of 2 parts - the Red Palace and the White one.

The White Palace encircles the Red one, as it were, with a protective wall. It is very symbolic: after all, the white palace is the seat of the administrative, secular power of Tibet. The head of the Tibetan administration was the Dalai Lama. But few people mention that apart from the head of the Government, for some time in the Red Palace lived also Tashi Lama - the spiritual Head of Tibet, approved by the Masters of Shambhala.

The last Tashi Lama was forced to flee the Potala after the conspiracy of the penultimate Dalai Lama. Thus, the penultimate Dalai Lama rejected the great Patrons of Shambhala. And soon after this tragic event, Chinese troops entered Tibet. Karma. The young Dalai Lama, the heir to the traitor Lama, our contemporary had to move to India, where his residence is still located.

And Shambhala closed its gates for the Tibetan people. But not very dense, the invisible Hand is still there, and the Teaching of Kalachakra, which emanated from the Tower of Shambhala, finds ways for life in the world. And it is good that way.

Below is an excellent account of the modern Potala.

Original taken from anton_ermachkov to the Potala Palace

The Potala Palace, located on Red Mountain in the center of Lhasa, is not only the main attraction, shrine, the largest monumental structure in all of Tibet, but also the tallest palace in the world. This palace is a unique monument of culture and art and a truly architectural masterpiece.
I don't remember where and when I first saw a photograph of the Potala Palace, but since then I wanted to definitely come to Tibet and see this miracle live!

Photo 2. The palace is located at an altitude of 3,700 m on Red Hill (Marpo Ri) in the middle of the Lhasa valley. Numerous pilgrims walk around the hill with the palace, making a bark - a ritual tour of the holy place. Along the crust are numerous prayer drums and shopping arcades.

In 637, the king of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, erected the first building here in the place where he used to meditate. When he decided to make Lhasa his capital, he built a palace. After his betrothal to the Chinese princess Wen Cheng, he expanded the palace to 999 rooms, erected walls and towers, and dug a bypass channel. In the second half of the 8th century, lightning hit the palace and the wooden buildings burned down, then due to internecine wars, the palace collapsed. Now only the Fa-Wana cave and the Pabalakan hall have survived.

Palace in his modern form construction began in 1645 at the initiative of the Dalai Lama V. In 1648 the White Palace was completed, and the Potala began to be used as the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas. The Red Palace was completed between 1690 and 1694.

Photo 3.

Photo 4. The heart of the complex is the Red Palace (Potrang Marpo) - the highest part in the center. This part is completely devoted to religious education and Buddhist prayers:

Photo 5. The building consists of many halls, chapels and libraries on several levels with galleries and winding corridors. Richly decorated with paintings, precious stones and carvings, it contains several temples and tombs of eight past Dalai Lamas:

Photo 6. The White Palace consists of a large eastern pavilion, a sun pavilion, living quarters of the regent and mentor of the Dalai Lama, as well as government offices:

Photo 7. The Great East Pavilion was used for official ceremonies; the Dalai Lama actually lived and worked in the Sun Pavilion:

Photo 8.

Photo 9. Going up:

Photo 10. Interesting material for the walls :)

Photo 11. The palace was the main residence of the Dalai Lama, until the forced departure of the XIV Dalai Lama in 1959 to India and receiving political asylum there. The Chinese government uses the complex as a museum. In 1994, the complex was listed World heritage UNESCO.

Photo 12. Since a tourist is given one hour to visit the palace, by the Chinese comrades, the inspection of the interior takes place practically on a run, but still I don’t understand how it happened that this is the only photograph I took inside the palace:

Photo 13. On one of the tiers of the complex:

Photo 14. From the upper tiers of the Potala, a good view of Lhasa opens up:

Photo 15.

Photo 16. Potala at dusk:

Photo 17. And backlit:

Photo 18. A little closer:

Photo 19. On the square in front of the palace, the Chinese have built an excellent fountain, which attracts crowds of tourists and townspeople every evening. Tourists, spreading tripods, try to capture the beauty of the night Potala, children run under streams of water, parents run after children, couples retire on benches, and the Chinese military and firefighters are vigilantly watching everything that happens :))

Photo 20.

Photo 21.

Tibet, Lhasa (which means "land of the gods" in Sanskrit), the cliff ledge Marproi ("Red Hill") - right here, above sacred city, there is a palace called Potala. It was built specifically for the spiritual and political ruler of Tibet, the founder of Lamaism, Dalai Lama V (1617 - 1682).

The building of the palace looks like an impregnable rock. It is hard to imagine, but this structure, which has more than 30 floors, was built in 1694, when no high-rise buildings were being erected. At one time, he, perhaps, was perceived in the same way as skyscrapers today.

The Potala Palace, towering over the whole city, impresses with its appearance even a sophisticated person of the XXI century. The building on a rock ledge with countless windows carved into the snow-white wall creates the feeling of something majestic and almost fabulous.

Location:
Tibet is perhaps the most mysterious country on our planet. The policy of self-isolation used to be typical for many Asian countries, but only Tibet embodies it to this day. This, of course, is facilitated by the unique geographical position... Major Tibetan cities are located at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters above sea level, and some even more than 4,000 meters. Steep passes and thin air make travel to Tibet very difficult.

The city of Lhasa is erected in a rarefied airspace Himalayas, at an altitude of over 3,650 meters. Until the Chinese occupation in 1951, monks made up the majority of the population here.

The main building of Tibet is the Potala Palace. This huge structure is clearly visible from afar from different points of the city and especially well - from the top of the Chagpo Ri hill. Being in Lhasa, you catch yourself thinking that it is impossible to take your eyes off this building. Potala is located at 3,700 meters above sea level, its height is 115 meters, with a total area of over 130,000 square meters. There is no exact data on how many rooms and halls there are in the Potala. Their number is "somewhere over a thousand," as the guides say. Until now, not a single person has ever visited all the premises in this palace.

History:
The name "Potala" comes from the word which in Sanskrit means "mountain of Buddha". At this place in the 7th century AD, there was the Song-wall Gampu palace, dedicated to the Buddhist ruler of Tibet.

Centuries later, in 1645, the V Dalai Lama, who is also the ruler of Tibet, ordered to build a palace on the site of the destroyed residence. Construction began on the first, lower part of the Potala - the White Palace (Potrang Karpo). The nine-storey structure of the upper part was completed 3 years later. In 1649, the Fifth Dalai Lama moves from Drepung to his new residence.

The circumstances surrounding the construction of the Upper Red Palace (Potrang Marpi), the second largest building, remain the subject of much controversy to this day. When the Dalai Lama died in 1682, construction was still pending. The death of the Dalai Lama was kept silent until 1694, when, finally, the palace was not built. According to some reports, the Red Palace was conceived as a mausoleum.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama undertook some work to renovate the building, removing some sections of the White Palace, in order to expand part of the chapels. Until the 1950s, the palace remained the seat of the Tibetan government.

Potala came under fire during the popular uprising against the Chinese in 1959. As luck would have it, the damage was minor, both during the uprising and in the subsequent years of the Cultural Revolution.

The palace remained the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas until 1959, when the current 14th Dalai Lama emigrated to India. For many years after the Chinese occupation, the palace was closed to the public, and only in 1980 it was reopened. In 1985, the last restoration work was completed, for which about $ 4 million was spent.

Peculiarities:
The palace was built from earth, stone and wood using the most basic means. Everything Construction Materials people delivered on themselves or on donkeys. It’s not hard to guess that the work was extremely hard.

To get inside the palace, which is shaped like a truncated pyramid or trapezoid, you need to walk along a wide square located on all sides of the building. Only after passing through them you can come to the slope, over the entire surface of which are scattered many zigzag staircases connecting all parts of the palace.

The Potala Palace is divided into two parts - Pochjangabo and Pojangmabo (Red and White Palace). Pochjangabo is the place where the personal chambers of the Dalai Lama are located and solemn ritual ceremonies are held. Pochjangmabo is the abode of monks and servants. Buddhist halls and burial pagodas-stupas are located here.

In the main part of the building were built government premises, rooms for the attendants, which consisted exclusively of monks, and a monastic school. Previously, there were also meditation rooms, libraries, armories, granaries, storerooms, torture chambers and a punishment cell.

Inside the building there are more than 1,000 different rooms, where 10,000 shrines and no less than 20,000 statues are hidden. Numerous chapels and sanctuaries are filled with statues, paintings embroidered on silk, vessels for incense and other ritual objects. The palace roofs covered with gold, granite walls, graceful cornices with gilded decorations give architectural ensemble splendor and greatness.

Many of the frescoes depict the twelve-armed god Avalokitershvara and his wife, the goddess Tara. The fact is that it is these deities that are considered the main patrons of Tibet. To make these frescoes, Tibetan craftsmen used agate, amber, gold and silver powder.

In the city of Lhasa in Tibet - royal palace and Buddhist temple complex, was the main residence of the Dalai Lama.
Until the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama to Darmasalu (India) after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959.
It is located on a high hill overlooking the city. The total area of the palace complex is 360 thousand square meters. m.

Now the Potala Palace is a museum actively visited by tourists, remaining a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists and continuing to be used in Buddhist rituals.
Due to its enormous cultural, religious, artistic and historical significance, it was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1994.

Name "Potala" comes from the word which in Sanskrit means "Buddha mountain". At this place in the 7th century AD, there was the Song-wall Gampu palace, dedicated to the Buddhist ruler of Tibet.

Potala is located 3700 meters above sea level, its height is 115 meters, divided into 13 floors, the total area of which is more than 130,000 square meters. There is no exact data on how many rooms and halls there are in the Potala. Their number is "somewhere over a thousand", and there are very few people who could bypass them all.

The palace in its present form began to be built in 1645 at the initiative of the Dalai Lama V. In 1648 the White Palace (Potrang Karpo) was completed, and the Potala began to be used as the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas. The Red Palace (Potrang Marpo) was completed between 1690 and 1694.

The palace is located at an altitude of 3,700 m on Red Hill (Marpo Ri) in the middle of the Lhasa Valley. Because of the terraces, roof decks and temples, it does not give the impression of a fortress (dzonga). The general view of the palace, stretching out on a mountain ridge, with towers, walls, stairs, temples and annexes, is a unique artistic solution, its majesty and beauty are appreciated by Buddhists, architects and artists, amaze travelers.
Numerous pilgrims walk around the hill with the palace, making a bark - a ritual tour of the holy place. Along the crust are numerous prayer drums and shopping arcades.

The White Palace consists of a large east pavilion, a sun pavilion, the quarters of the regent and mentor of the Dalai Lama, and government offices. The large eastern pavilion was used for official ceremonies; the Dalai Lama actually lived and worked in the Sun Pavilion, read sacred texts, and was engaged in management.

The Red Palace served to a greater extent as a place of prayers and religious rituals, and there are pavilions in it. Eight memorial stupas, including the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas, are of great importance.

In addition to stupas, the palace consists of a string of large and small halls (temples) dedicated to Buddhas, bodhisattvas, Dalai Lamas, as well as for audiences and ceremonies. The halls display jewels and relics - spatial mandalas for contemplation, memorial stupas, statues of the Dalai Lamas and teachers, statues of deities and yidams, books, ritual objects, and a complex system of painting on the walls.

Excerpt from the book of His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV "My country and my people"

“They say this is one of the largest buildings in the world. Even if you have lived there for many years, all the secrets of this building are impossible to know. It completely covers the top of the hill. It is a whole city.

However, in addition to the fact that this building was used as an office, temple, school and dwelling, the Potala was also a huge warehouse. There were rooms filled with thousands of priceless icon scrolls, thangkas. Some of them were written a thousand years ago. There were rooms filled with the golden regalia of the ancient kings of Tibet, also over 1000 years old, and various gifts received from the Chinese and Mongol emperors, as well as the treasures of the Dalai Lamas who ruled the country after the kings. Armor and weapons from the period of all Tibetan history were also kept here.

The libraries contained the annals of Tibetan culture and religion, about seven thousand huge volumes. Some are said to have weighed about 80 pounds, while others were written on palm leaves brought from India 1,000 years ago. Two thousand enlightening volumes of scriptures were written in ink composed of powders of gold, silver, iron, copper, mother-of-pearl, lapis lazuli and coral. Each line was written in a different color ink. "

One of the main attractions of the palace is the many frescoes depicting various everyday and ritual scenes. Some of the frescoes were not available for wide viewing for a long time. Only in the late 90s were they hung in the halls, and now they can be seen by all pilgrims and tourists who came to the Potala.
Many of the frescoes depict the twelve-armed god Avalokitershvara and his wife, the goddess Tara. The fact is that it is these deities that are considered the main patrons of Tibet. To make these frescoes, Tibetan craftsmen used agate, amber, gold and silver powder.

The Potala Palace towers in the background mountain range that is approaching the city from the south. The palace stands on Red Hill (Marpo Ri) in the middle of the valley; it is only part of a huge fortified complex, which also includes a fenced rectangular area at the foot of the mountain.
The main and central part of the complex is represented by the White Palace (Potrang Karpo) in the east and the Red (Potrang Marpo) in the west.
The Potala Palace was created as a symbol of Tibetan statehood. This happened at a time when the country was once again rallied by the rule of the Buddhist Dalai Lamas.
In order to finally raise above all mortals the already high temple-palace, which is also high in the mountains, it is named after the patron saint of Tibet, the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, a mythical palace in southern India, standing on the top of a mountain, on the coast Indian Ocean(in Chinese Buddhism - Putuo's paradise on an island in the East China Sea). According to Buddhist mythology, the Potala is the paradise where the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Tara live.

History

The Potala Tibetan temple-palace was built on the site of the huge (more than 1000 rooms) palace of the king of the Yarlung dynasty of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, who ruled in 604-650. and brought Buddhism to the people of Tibet. Today, visitors to the Potala are shown the Chogyal Drupuk cave, in which King Songtsen Gampo meditated, and the Phakra Lhakhang Hall as surviving fragments of that ancient palace complex. Songtsen Gampo was considered the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara.
The ideological inspirer and initiator of the beginning of the construction of the Potala in 1645 - Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617-1682) - the fifth Dalai Lama, or the Great Fifth, Tibetan religious and political figure. He was also considered to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara. Consequently, the Potala Palace - heaven on earth - became a clear confirmation of the integrity and revival of the Tibetan state.
However, in the construction of the Potala Palace, there is also an obvious political subtext. First half of the 17th century became a period of fierce struggle between the rival schools of Tibetan Buddhism, supported by the rulers of different regions of Tibet. It was in 1642 that the Fifth Dalai Lama received supreme power over all of Tibet: his Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism defeated all the others, and a new supreme Tibetan religious rule emerged. Lhasa was declared the capital, where they erected a palace for the new nobility.
The White Palace was the first of the entire complex to be built in 1645-1648: the Fifth Dalai Lama turned it into his winter residence.
The Red Palace was erected between 1690 and 1694.
Before the start of construction, a site was prepared: the ridge of the mountain was leveled using the technique of cutting down descending terraces, traditional for Tibetan mountain architecture. Thus, a striking effect of "growing" of the building from the mountain is achieved.
In terms of building technology and materials, the Potala Palace is similar to ordinary peasant houses in Tibet.
The strong external load-bearing walls are made of roughly cut stones. They are held together with clay. Thick wood beams have been inserted into the walls to support the floor and ceiling. In the room, the beams are supported by wooden columns.
The sloping outer walls are also typical of the houses of ordinary Tibetans: the walls are sloped inward by 6-9 °. The space between the outer and inner walls reaches 5 m (!), It is filled with earth, stones and intertwined willow branches.
The Potala Palace, by its very appearance, should inspire awe and obedience to the will of the gods and their representatives on earth. Therefore, he was lifted up a hill in the middle of a valley high in the mountains of Tibet.
Created with the support of the Mongols, the Potala Palace in its appearance combined the Indian roots of Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese architectural decor and traditional Tibetan building technology.
Since 1951, it has been part of the PRC as an autonomous region. Its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been in exile since 1959. But the Potala Palace survived: unlike most Tibetan monasteries and temples, the Potala was not destroyed by the Red Guards and the Chinese army, thanks to the personal order of the First Premier of the PRC State Council Zhou Enlai (1898-1976).
Potala today remains the architectural embodiment of the Buddhist essence of Tibet.
The White Palace consists of the spacious East Pavilion, the Sun Pavilion, the living quarters of the regent and mentor of the Dalai Lama, as well as the offices of the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The Great East Pavilion has always been used for official ceremonies. The Sun Pavilion housed the personal chambers of the Dalai Lama, where he lived and worked, read sacred texts, and solved management issues.
The Red Palace served as a place for prayer meetings and religious rituals. There are also several pavilions here.
In the western annex of the Red Palace is the tomb of Thuptan Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1933), who ruled from 1895 to 1933.
He was also awarded this honor for the fact that in 1912 he achieved the proclamation of the independence of Tibet and the formation of an independent Tibetan state.
The walls of the Potala Palace are covered with a layer of lime in the White Palace and ocher in the Red. The walls always look like new because they are doused from above, and yak wool is used instead of brushes.
You can always find out which places in the palace are given special importance: they have small gilded Chinese roofs, but at the same time with gilded Indian ornaments, in the old days made by the hands of Nepalese craftsmen.
The palace windows are covered with black yak wool carpets.
The eight memorial stupas with the embalmed bodies of the Dalai Lamas are considered very important for the palace and the Potala temple. Among them is the stupa of the Fifth Dalai Lama - the builder of the White Palace.
The Potala Palace is surrounded by monastic living quarters (concentrated in the west wing), storerooms and external fortifications. Due to the crowding of buildings, it is sometimes difficult to judge which period they belong to, but, in all likelihood, this is the end of the 17th century. It should be noted that the palace-temple was constantly being completed, making changes to the overall complex.
Visitors can enter the Potala Palace complex through a narrow gate, to which several stepped ramps lead.
In the interior of the palace, wooden beams and columns, as well as walls, are decorated with intricate carvings and drawings. The halls are filled with many relics: these are spatial mandalas for contemplation, memorial stupas, statues of the Dalai Lamas and teachers, statues of deities and yidams, books, ritual objects.
Throughout the centuries of its existence, the Potala Palace has never been significantly damaged. Its lovely appearance and the good condition of the interiors are maintained only by necessary repairs.
Over the past decades, Lhasa has grown markedly, with many modern-style buildings emerging, but the Potala, as in the old days, still rises majestically above the changing urban landscape.
The Potala Palace was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

general information

Location: southeast of Tibet.
Administrative location: Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, PRC.
Status: religious building, historical monument.
Construction: VII, XVII, XIX centuries.
Languages: Tibetan, Chinese.
Ethnic composition: Tibetans, Han people.
Religion: Buddhism.
Currency unit: yuan.

Numbers

The total area of the palace: 360,000 m2 (including front yard and pond).
Complex total height: 117 m.
Length: 400 m.
Width: 350 m.
Wall thickness: 3-5 m.
Floors: 13.
Height above sea level: 3650 m.
Eastern courtyard square (terraces): 1600 m 2.
Chogyal Drupuk cave area: 27 m 2.
Number of monks(Namgyal monastery) : 200.

Climate and weather

Mountain.
Average January temperature: -2.5 ° C.
Average temperature in July: + 15 ° C.
Average annual rainfall: 420 mm.
Relative humidity: 60%.

sights

■ Potala Palace and Temple Complex(VII, XVII centuries).
■ White palace(1645-1648)
■ Red palace(1690-1694)
■ Tomb of Thuptan Gyatso- Dalai Lama XIII (1934-1936)
■ Other structures: monastery living quarters, storerooms and external fortifications (late 17th century).

Curious facts

■ In 1652, the Fifth Dalai Lama, the builder of the Potala, arrived in Beijing, where the Yellow Palace was built especially for him. Emperor Shun-chi of the Qing dynasty who then ruled China, as a sign of special gratitude, awarded the Fifth Dalai Lama the title of Penetrating, carrying a thunderous scepter, like an ocean lama. In gratitude, the Fifth Dalai Lama awarded the emperor the title of Heavenly God, Manjushri, the Highest, Great Sovereign.
■ The building stone was delivered to the construction site from a quarry northeast of Lhasa. They were delivered by porters - on their own backs and in drags. The clay used as mortar was mined on site, and the remaining pits were turned into a pond called the Pool of the Dragon King.
■ The Thirteenth Dalai Lama played a very important role in the so-called Great Game - the diplomatic and military confrontation between Russia, Great Britain and the Qing Empire in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. However, he was on the side of Russia. In 1904, following the British invasion of Tibet, the Dalai Lama fled to Urga, the capital of Mongolia. Turning to the Russian consulate, he asked the tsarist government for permission to move to Russia. The Dalai Lama was refused: if this request were granted, Russia would have spoiled relations with China for a long time, if not forever.
■ The main difference between the Potala architecture and the walls of traditional Tibetan houses is that the walls of the small bastions in the east and west wings are rounded rather than straight.
■ Only diligent adherence to the Tibetan traditions of housebuilding in the Potala can explain the presence of a vertical parapet on flat roofs, into whose front surface are inserted branches of willow and tamarisk, with their ends pointing outward and painted red. They symbolize bundles of brushwood and armfuls of hay, which even today Tibetan peasants pile on the roofs of their simple houses.
■ The underground sanctuary of the ancient pre-Buddhist religion Bon is preserved in the lower basement tier.
■ The Potala Relics - one hundred sacred scrolls on palm leaves from ancient India. They were written over a thousand years ago, using gold and silver ink, dyes from pearls, iron powder, coral, seashells and copper dust. The paper of the scrolls is not susceptible to damage by insects or dampness.
■ After the Fifth Dalai Lama's reincarnation (death and search for a new one), his entourage hid it for almost ten years, fearing that the people would rebel and stop working on the construction of the Potala Palace.
■ The stupa of the Fifth Dalai Lama occupies the fourth floor, its height is about 15 m, it is made of gold.