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Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet

by Mary Jo Manzanares on November 9th, 2006

There’s been lots of hype over the feature  “The New 7 Wonders of the World” sponsored by ABC’s Good Morning America and USA Today.

I’ve been thinking about what they might be, along with realizing that I couldn’t even name the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  For the record, they are:  the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. 

How many did you remember?  I came up with only three.

This morning, the new feature kicked off, with the release of the first of the New 7 Wonders:  Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

The fortress-like Potala Palace is located in the side of the Red Mountain, above the Lhasa valley, and is considered the greatest monumental structure in Tibet.  It is the most sacred Buddhist location.

The Palace was originally built in 637, and then incorporated into a larger structure around 1645.  Since then it has been expanded and renovated several times.  Amazingly, the Palace remained standing, with only slight damage, during the invasion of the Chinese in 1959, and it was left untouched by the Red Guards during the turbulent times of the 1960-70’s.

The primary purpose of the Palace was as the residence of the Dalai Lama and his staff.  It also served as the seat of Tibetan government, a location for all ceremonies of state, a religious training school for monks, and a repository for the tombs of past Dalai Lamas.  This last use made it a major pilgrimage destination as well.

Today the Potala Palace is a state museum of China, a popular tourist attraction and an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Currently, the Palace has interior space in excess of 130,000 square meters.  If my conversion math is accurate, that’s over a million and a quarter square feet.  That’s mammoth!

Some of the features of Potala Palace:

• The White Palace (in the photo at left) makes up the living quarters of the Dalai Lama and his monks.  It also contains offices, the seminary, and the printing house. 
• The Red Palace is completely devoted to religious study and Buddhist prayer.  There are many different halls, chapels and libraries.
• The Great West Hall is the central hall of the Red Palace.  The hall contains mural depicting events in the life of the fifth Dalai Lama, including the famous scene of his visit to the Emperor in Beijing. 
• The Saint’s Chapel is on the north side of the Great West Hall.  It is the holiest shrine in the Palace, and dates back to the seventh century. 
• The North Chapel contains a statue of a crowned Buddha and a Dalai Lama seated on a gold throne.  Also in the chapel is the gold tomb of the Eleventh Dalai Lama, who died as a child. 
• The South Chapel centers on Padmasambhava, an 8th century Indian magician and saint.
• The East Chapel is dedicated to the founder of the Yellow Hat sect.
• The West Chapel contains the mummified body of the Fifth Dalai Lama.  The structure is built of sandalwood, coated with solid gold, and studded with semi-precious jewels. 
• The First Gallery, located above the West Chapel, contains murals showing the construction of the Palace.
• The Second Gallery gives access to the central pavilion and is used for receiving visitors, refreshments, and for souvenirs.
• The Third Gallery contains murals, and large collections of Bronze statues and figurines that are worth a small fortune.  This is also the location of the chanting hall.
• The Tomb of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama is accessible only with the company of a monk or guide.  The tomb contains over one ton of gold and precious jewels, and priceless devotional offerings.

The Palace is remote, accessible only after a long train ride from China, and is somewhere that I’m not likely to ever visit.  So, it’s been fascinating to see of it through television and video, and to appreciate the architecture and culture that surrounds it.  To me, it a unique combination of primitive and elaborate.

Photo credit:  wikimedia

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POSTED IN: Things to See & Do