The historical ensemble of the potala palace in the city of lhasa. Potala palace

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. The Great Hall of 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.

Lhasa in translation from Tibetan means "Land of the Gods" and here the presence of the divine is really felt everywhere.

When you come to Lhasa, especially on your first trip to Tibet, the first thing you notice is the Potala Palace (Tib .: པོ་ ཏ་ ལ potala, Chin .: 布达拉宫 budalagong), towering on Mount Marpo Ri in the city center , which for many centuries was the winter residence of the Dalam Lamas. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka - the mythical habitat of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, of which the Dalai Lama is a living embodiment.

The construction of the Potala began in 637 by the king of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo. However, after a fire and internecine wars, the palace was completely destroyed and acquired its present appearance already under the fifth Dalai Lama in the middle of the 17th century.

In 1645, the Fifth Dalai Lama ordered the construction of the White Palace to begin. Three years later, in 1649, the 9-storey building was completed, and the Dalai Lama moved to it from the Drepung monastery. Subsequently, the construction of the Red Palace began, which was erected by 1694. An interesting fact, which is still the cause of various disputes and disagreements, is that until the completion of the construction of the palace, the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama was hidden from the people. According to the data, the Fifth Dalai Lama passed away in 1682, but this news was kept in deep secrecy. There are many opinions about the reasons for the withholding of the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama. One of the versions says that death was hiding from the people in order to complete the construction of the Red Palace. After all, the people building the palace were inspired by the deepest faith and respect for the Fifth Dalai Lama. The news of his death could have stopped the construction of the Palace, so his death was concealed for 12 years until the construction of the palace was completed.

Potala consists of 13 floors with a total height of 118 meters. Inside there are one thousand rooms, in which there are more than one hundred thousand altars and two hundred thousand Buddhist statues and images. Particular attention is paid to the stupas, which contain the relics of the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas. The Potala currently attracts thousands of Buddhist pilgrims. They go around the cortex (ritual walks) around the Palace, recite mantras and prayers, and do prostrations.

Opposite the Potala is the Chakpo Ri Mountain. In the 15th century, a medical college was located on this mountain, which, unfortunately, was destroyed in 1959. Now Chakpo Ri attracts pilgrims and tourists with its rock paintings. Many of them have survived from the time of King Songtsen Gampo (7th century).

I would like to return to this place of power again and again, breathe deeply this rarefied air with the aromas of incense, yak oil and crystal freshness, slowly make bark around the Potala, absorbing its history and wisdom.

In Buddhist mythology, the paradise where the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Tara live (corresponds to the Chinese paradise of Puto) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Skt. potala, potalaka, pautalaka), in Buddhist mythology, the name of the paradise where Avalokiteshvara and Tara live. According to Indian and Tibetan sources, it is located on the top of a mountain on the coast Indian Ocean, in Chinese Buddhism on an island in ... ... Encyclopedia of mythology

POTALA, in Buddhist mythology, the paradise where bodhisattvas live (see BODHISATTVA) Avalokiteshvara (see AVALOKITESVARA) and Tara (see TARA (in mythology)) (corresponds to the Chinese paradise Puto) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Skt.) 1) in budd. mythology is the name of the paradise where the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and his female energy Tara live; 2) the palace and winter residence of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa (until 1959), one of chap. shrines of Tibet; named after the paradise of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara ... Buddhism

Potala- in the buddhas. myth. name paradise where Avalokiteshvara and Tara live. By ind. and a Tibetan source., is located on the top of a mountain on the coast of the Indian Ocean ... Ancient world... encyclopedic Dictionary

potala- and, w. Z їdannya, slaughter. || Dashing, dashing, bida. Go to the potala ... Ukrainian Tlumachny vocabulary

potala- Mennik of a female family ... Spelling vocabulary of the Ukrainian language

Coordinates: 29 ° 39'35 ″ s. NS. 91 ° 07′01 ″ in. d. / 29.659722 ° N NS. 91.116944 ° E etc ... Wikipedia

A city in the southwest of China, c. Tibetan Auth. p on. It is the main religious center of Lamaism (one of the forms of Buddhism) in Asia, which is reflected in the name: Tibet. lha god, sa earth, that is, divine, sacred land. Geographic names… … Geographical encyclopedia

Lhasa City 拉薩, 拉萨, Lāsà Country China China Status ... Wikipedia

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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 in 1994 World heritage UNESCO.



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.



Palace in his modern form construction began 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.



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 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 learn. 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.






He knew approximately that in Tibet there is a huge palace on the mountain. I decided that I needed to get to know him better. Let's go together.

Potala - unique oldest palace in Lhasa, located at an altitude of 3767 meters above sea level. No other palace in the world is located as high as the Potala. The palace got its name from the name sacred mountain, located in India, where, according to legend, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshwar (Guanin) lives.


First wooden palace The Potala on the slope of Red Mountain was built in the 7th century for the niece of the Tang emperor Wen Cheng, who came to Tibet to marry the Tibetan prince Sronzangambo (617-650). Wen Cheng captivated the ruler with her beauty and intelligence, and he ordered to build a palace for her. The Tang Princess is the most famous and revered woman in Tibet, who has had a huge impact on the development of this region. She taught local residents grow vegetables, grind flour, distill wine and alcohol and, most importantly, introduced them to Buddhism, which had already become widespread throughout China. With her help, Prince Sronzangambo created an administrative and military system in Tibet.


1939 year

However, already in the 8th century, the palace with 999 rooms was destroyed by lightning and civil wars, and only in the 17th century, by order of the fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682), the palace was restored, after which the layout of the building did not change. Since then, the Potala has served as the sacred residence of the Dalai Lamas, a religious center and place from which Tibet is governed.


The area of ​​the palace is 360,000 square meters and its height is 119 meters. In total, the palace has 9 floors, although from the street it seems that there are 13 of them, and more than 2000 rooms. The imposing trapezoidal structures of the palace are built right on the side of the mountain and are painted in white and red colors. The walls of the palace are made of granite, while the windows and roofs are made of wood. The interiors are lit with oil lamps, and the halls are decorated with silk ribbons and sutras. The palace is designed in typical Tibet architectural style and is the most magnificent and striking creation of Tibetan architects and craftsmen. The Potala Palace, the oldest and most famous palace in China, is called the "pearl on the roof of the world."


The thief consists of two main parts - the Red Palace in the center and two pavilions of the White Palace.
The Red Palace, or as it is also called Potrang Marpo, was mainly used for religious ceremonies and prayers. In its premises there are eight stupas that store a particle of the relics of the Dalai Lamas, numerous relics, items made of precious metals and stones. The palace is characterized by a complex layout of halls, a large number of galleries of different levels, with winding and narrow passages.

The most spacious room of the Red Palace is the Great Western Hall, which consists of four temples. This magnificent hall is the clearest testament to the greatness and power of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The hall is famous for its unique paintings, reminiscent of Persian miniatures, which depict scenes from the life of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The columns in the hall are wrapped in a special precious cloth from Bhutan.

In the northern part of the hall there is a sacred tomb, on the door of which in the 19th century the Chinese emperor Tung Ji was engraved with an inscription proclaiming Buddhism "a blossoming field of wonderful fruits." Here is an ancient statue of Avalokiteshvara and his two servants, carved from a precious stone. One floor below, a low, dark passage leads to Fa-vaan's cave.

On the fourth floor of the Red Palace in the Western Temple, there are 5 stupas of the Dalai Lama, including the stupa of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Its length is almost 15 meters. The stupa was built from sandalwood, covered with 3727 kg. pure gold, decorated with 18680 pearls and precious stones. On the left is the stupa of the twelfth Dalai Lama, and on the right - the tenth.

The tomb of the 13th Dalai Lama is located west of the Great Western Hall. It can only be accessed via the top floor, along with the monks or palace guides. Built in 1933, the giant memorial stupa is covered in pure gold and priceless stones. The memorial stupa is 22 meters high. The rich religious decoration includes elephant tusks from India, porcelain vases, miniature pagodas made from over 200,000 pearls. The walls are decorated with traditional Tibetan paintings depicting events from the life of the 13th Dalai Lama.

In the pavilion of the Shushengsanjedian Red Palace, there is an amazing statue of a thousand-armed Guanin with 11 faces.
The main buildings of the White Palace, whose color symbolizes tranquility and peace, are the Great East Pavilion, the Sun Pavilion, as well as living quarters for teachers of the Dalai Lamas, trusted monks and officials. The spacious premises of the Great East Pavilion were used for important ceremonies and receptions. The throne of the Dalai Lama is also located here.
The Sun Pavilion, located above the Great East Pavilion, served as living quarters for the Dalai Lamas. Here they also worked.

In addition, two buildings of the 7th century have survived in the palace, the only ones not destroyed during civil strife - the Fa-wana cave and the Pabalakan pavilion. According to legend, in the cave, King Sronzangambo meditated and studied sacred texts. A hearth and a stone vat have been preserved in the cave until now, which were used by the king himself.

A large-scale reconstruction of the palace, on which more than $ 6.6 million was spent, was carried out in 1989-1994. At the same time, an expensive room monitoring system was installed in order to prevent fires. On December 7, 1994, the palace was included in the UNESCO heritage list. In 2002-2006, more than $ 40 million was spent on the restoration of the palace. Now the palace is open to tourists and partially functions as a museum.

The Potala Palace is almost entirely built of wood. It is illuminated with oil lamps. And the halls are decorated with silk ribbons with sutras. All this creates a fire hazard. The administration of the Potala Palace pays great attention to the prevention of accidents. Therefore, in 1994, 4.7 million yuan (US $ 566,000) was invested in the installation of a 24-hour monitoring system. Thanks to the measures taken, since 1988 there has not been a single fire in the palace. On December 7, 1994, the palace was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Previously, it was never calculated how many rooms are in the 13-story palace. It was only in 1994 that the administration decided to establish the exact number of premises. It took experts five years to thoroughly examine the palace, longer than the restoration of the building itself. The Potala is a huge treasure trove of ancient relics. Here is kept the sacred stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama (1617-1682), made of 5.5 kg of gold and a huge amount of precious stones.

The Chinese government has invested 4.9 million yuan in a fire protection system for the palace. The first phase of the project, from 1989 to 1994, spent 53 million yuan (US $ 6.4 million) and several tons of gold to rebuild the Potala. Before that, for 300 years, no full-scale reconstruction of the palace had been carried out. There are many cultural treasures in Tibet. Since the 1950s, the Chinese government has spent 200 million yuan on conservation cultural monuments in Tibet. Historians, specialists in ancient architecture and geologists conducted research to draw up a conservation plan for the Potala.

The second phase of the restoration project was completed in 2006. The main focus of this phase will be on the "snow town" at the foot of the Red Hill. By 2001, more than 300 families had settled in the snowy town where the Tibetan nobility once lived. At the first stage, the Red and White palaces of the Potala were restored, the rooms were cleaned of rats, and the sewerage system was installed. To preserve the appearance of the palace, experts turned to traditional construction techniques. For example, they coated the roof with a layer of oil to make it waterproof. This technology has been used by the Tibetans from time immemorial. However, even with the use of oil, roofs leaked during rainstorms, when the compacted earth from which they were made began to dissolve. In the second stage, a special chemical was added to the compacted earth to prevent the roof from letting in water. Particular attention was paid to wooden structures. They were treated with a substance that repels rats. But new technologies did not harm the ancient structure of the palace. The purpose of the renovation was not to change the original appearance. Special measures have been taken to preserve the statues, manuscripts and other valuables. Huge statues in multi-layered robes, wooden frames, canvases and sheets of metal were taken out of the palace. During construction, they were kept under the supervision of monks. None of the 100,000 pieces of art were damaged during the work. In the second phase of the project, which began in 2002, the specialists abandoned the use of cement for the roof, instead using chemicals. Thus, they escaped the destruction of the ancient structures.

The first buildings appeared here in the 7th century, but the Potala acquired its present appearance only in the 16th-17th centuries. The palace was built from 641 to the 17th century. In 1645, construction began on the first, lower part of the Potala - the White Palace (Potrang Karpo). The nine-story structure was completed 3 years later, and in 1649 the Fifth Dalai Lama moved from Drepung to his new residence.

White palace was the place where the courtiers used to live, there were reception rooms, storerooms, etc. They say that treasures, weapons, as well as sacred books and archives that were collected for centuries by the Tibetan kings and the Dalai Lamas are said to be kept here and now. However, this cannot be verified - tourists are allowed into only a few rooms. Moreover, it is strictly forbidden to take photographs inside these premises.

The central part of the complex - Red Palace(Potrang Marpi) red-brown, like the clothes of lamas, color. Here were the apartments of the Dalai Lama, the main Lamaist shrines, tombs (suburgans) of the Dalai Lama, starting from the Fifth.

The circumstances of the construction of the larger, upper Red Palace remain a matter of controversy to this day. It is known for certain that the Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682, and the fact of his death was hidden until the completion of the construction of the Red Palace in 1694, that is, for 12 years. According to some reports, the work was started by the regent who ruled Tibet from 1679 to 1703. According to other sources, the Red Palace was conceived by the Fifth Dalai Lama as a mausoleum, and by the time of his death, work was already in full swing. In any event, the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama was not announced until his body was placed in the newly completed Red Palace.

There are also several opinions regarding the name of the palace. The most likely explanation is that it comes from the Tibetan name adopted to mean Pure World Avalokiteshvara, also known as Potala. Considering the fact that both Songtsen Gampo and the Dalai Lama are considered the earthly incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, this explanation seems quite acceptable.

In total, both palaces have over 1000 rooms and 13 floors. On the territory of the Potala, in Phakpa Lhakhang Temple there is a statue of Ariya Lokeshvara, sacred to Buddhists. The personal monastery of the Dalai Lama, a religious school, monks' cells, a treasury and storerooms are also located here.

Since its construction, the Potala has served as the home of each of the subsequent Dalai Lamas, although since it was built in the 18th century summer palace in Norbulingka, it began to serve only as a winter residence. The Potala was also the seat of the Tibetan government, and with all the chapels, halls, philosophical and religious schools, tombs of the Dalai Lamas, the palace was a separate world. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama undertook some renovation work in the early 20th century, removing some sections of the White Palace, in order to expand part of the cells.

Potala also came under fire during the popular uprising against the Chinese in 1959. As luck would have it, the damage was not significant either during the uprising or in the subsequent years of the Cultural Revolution.

For many years after the Chinese occupation, the palace was closed to the public, and only in 1980 it was reopened. In 1985, restoration work was completed, for which about $ 4 million was spent.

In 1645, the Potala Palace was rebuilt by the Fifth Dalai Lama. The reconstruction process lasted 50 years. After that, over three hundred years, the palace was partially rebuilt and completed. The Potala Palace today has 9 tiers (although they look like 13) and rises 110 meters along the slope of the mountain. It is a mixed construction made of stone and wood. The walls are made of granite. The greatest thickness of the walls is 5 meters. Molten Gugun is also poured into the front of the walls to strengthen the structure and increase resistance to earthquakes. At the same time, golden details of the decor were made, which made it possible to ingeniously solve the problem of the lightning rod. For hundreds of years, the Potala Palace has undergone trials by lightning, thunder and earthquakes. However, he, as before, rises in all his glory. The Potala Palace consists of the White Palace (residence of the Dalai Lamas), located on the sides, and the central Red Palace (Buddhist pavilions and halls of the Dalai Lamas) and western white Buddhist halls. In front of the Red Palace there is a white tower called Saifotai, where large tanks hang - woven icons (or appliqués) depicting Buddha. All the buildings of the Potala were erected in different periods, however, during the construction they wittily used mountainous relief and applied excellent design solutions. The Potala Palace has reached a high aesthetic level. The Red Palace is the main object of the entire ensemble. It houses the halls of the Dalai Lamas of different generations and various memorial and prayer halls. Including the most famous hall with the Dalai Lama's stupa of the fifth generation, Losanjatso. The stupa is almost 15 meters high. It has a square foundation and a round roof. The body of the stupa can be divided into three parts: the foundation, the “decanter” body and the roof. The body of the fifth generation Dalai Lama was buried in a "decanter" with incense and red flowers. The stupa is lined with 3724 kg. gold leaf and decorated with more than 15 thousand precious stones such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, green jade, pearls, agates. Vessels for sacrifices are installed on the foundation of the stupa. The western hall is called Xiangtan. It sama Big hall in the palace of the fifth generation Dalai Lama. The roof of the structure is supported by 48 large 6-meter high wooden columns. During the construction, the architects used an arched structure, which is often used in the buildings of Han architecture. There are many wooden sculptures of Buddha, lions, elephants and various animals. During the reconstruction and expansion of the Potala Palace in the 17th century. renowned Tibetan masters have created tens of thousands of beautiful wall paintings that are displayed in halls and galleries. The content of the paintings is varied. They depict historical characters, stories of legends and legends, moments of the history of Buddhism, and also reflect everyday life, folk customs, sports entertainment and games. All of these murals are priceless works of art in the Potala Palace.

In addition, the Potala Palace contains tens of thousands of painting scrolls, stone and wood carvings, clay sculpture, historical values ​​such as Beijing (Buddhist canon on shells), as well as traditional art products such as Tibetan carpets, Jingfan (Canon on silk or wool), ceramics, porcelain, jade products, etc. They not only have high artistic value, but also reflect the ancient thousand-year history of friendly contacts and cultural ties between Han and Tibetans. Being the “pearl of the Roof of the World”, the Potala Palace is known all over the world for its palace buildings, clay and wooden statues, metal products, drawings and paintings, as well as various carvings. It demonstrates the highest technique of the Tibetan, Han, Mongol and Manchu masters, as well as the magnificent achievements of the Tibetan construction art... In 1994, the Potala Palace was officially included by UNESCO in the List of "World Cultural Heritage".