TOIP

Perched on the top of the Marpo Red hill in the center of the city of Lhasa, the red and white Potala Palace is the highest ancient palace in the world. The palace is a symbol of Lhasa and a UNESCO world heritage site.

Potala palace was originally built by King Songtsan Gambo in 7^th century for his bride Princess Wenchang. The palace he built had 9 stories, 999 palace chambers and 1000 meditation halls. As the Songtsan Gombo Dynasty collapsed, the ancient fortress like palace was destroyed in wars. The modern Potala palace was rebuilt in 17^th century by The Great fifth Dalai Lama, Lozang Gyatso of Qing Dynasty. 

The main architecture of the Potala Palace is composed of two parts:

The Red Palace – The places used by the Dalai Lama as his living chamber and for political activity. The palace occupies 10,000 square meters, where the statues of King Songstan Gambo and Princess Wencheng along with many hundreds of Buddhist figures are kept for worship.

The White palace – is a 7 storey palace which has various halls to deal with Buddhist activities. The 4^th storey called the eastern hall is most important Buddhist hall where major religious and political activity, including the enthronement ceremony for reincarnated soul of the Dalai Lama was held. The seventh floor, sunshine hall was the winter palace of Dalai Lama.

Now, a museum, the palace is a must visit. An ancient history, murals, stupas, statues, thangkas and rare sutras attracts a number of visitors. The palace has a lot of stair cases up and down and located at a high peak hence acclimate to the weather condition before visiting.

Getting there: Located in the city center, it can be reached easily by foot, taxi or tricycle

Admission Fee: CNY 100 (Nov-April) CNY 200 (May-Oct). Only 2300 tickets are issued per day [1600 for the travel agent and 700 for individual tourist]

Opening hours: 09:00 – 16:00 

1 CNY = Rs. 6.8