The Potala Palace, a world cultural heritage, is the world's highest ancient palace and fort complex, one of the world's top ten outstanding civil and stone buildings, one of the world's three major palaces and forts, and the main place for the Dalai Lama to hold political activities
Potala Palace, the pearl of the snowy plateau, the holy land of Tibetan Buddhism, the treasure of architectural art, the legend of rebirth from the fire, this solemn and magnificent plateau temple, with its rich and long-lasting Tibetan culture, broad and profound Buddhist beliefs, infected visitors from all over the world, guests from all over the world, bowing at its feet, stopping and sighing. The Potala Palace is no longer a simple palace, but a kind of embodiment of faith, a symbol of the spirit, according to legend, the Potala Palace is located on the Red Mountain is the great compassion of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva's dojo, in the consciousness of Buddhism, its existence, as if the Bodhisattva in person (Tibetan Potala, that is, the residence of Guanyin Bodhisattva), worship the Potala Palace, can change the future.
1. History
Potala Palace, by the greatest Tibetan king of the Tibetan Dynasty Songtsen Gampo, was built in the middle of the seventh century AD, the original name was Pozhang Marbu Chizi, that is, the palace on the red mountain, a total of 1,000 houses, was the ruling center of the Tibetan government at that time, the palace experienced more than 200 years of ups and downs, at the end of the ninth century, with the demise of the Tubo Dynasty and was destroyed, and finally only two houses of the Holy Guanyin Temple, the Dharma King Cave remained. The current Potala Palace was rebuilt by the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1645 AD, which took three years to build the White Palace, after a lapse of 42 years, after the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama for many years, the regent Disi Sanjay Gyatso presided over the construction of the Red Palace, the Potala Palace is about what we see now, and the later 13th Dalai Lama added the East Sunshine Hall to the east of the original West Sunshine Hall on the top of the White Palace, and completed the construction of the Potala Palace across hundreds of years.
2. Architecture
The Potala Palace is one of the world's top ten outstanding civil and stone buildings, one of the world's three palace forts, the world's highest palace and the world's only theocratic palace, mainly composed of the White House, the Red Palace, the Snow City at the foot of the mountain, and the Longwangtan Park behind the palace. Among them, the main building is the White House and the Red Palace, the White House has a total of seven floors, the fourth floor of the East Silence Hall is the largest hall in the White House, also known as the East Hall of the White House, with an area of 717 square meters, is one of the main places for the Dalai Lama to hold political activities in the past dynasties.
The Red Palace has a total of 13 floors, composed of the Dalai Lama's spiritual pagoda, Buddha hall, scripture hall, etc., with a total construction area of about 16,000 square meters, the fifth floor of the West Silence Consummation Hall is the largest hall in the Red Palace, covering an area of more than 1,250 square meters, and the successive Dalai Lama's succession enthronement ceremony was held here.
3. Cultural relics
There are countless precious cultural relics in the Potala Palace, mainly Buddha statues, murals, thangkas, spiritual pagodas, Buddhist utensils and interior decoration, etc., there are red, yellow, green, blue and other colors in the palace, magnificent, magnificent. There are about hundreds of thousands of treasures in the Potala Palace, among which the naturally formed sandalwood Sacred Guanyin in the Holy Guanyin Hall is the most precious, and the statue of the Holy Guanyin is known as the treasure of the Potala Palace together with the Fifth Dalai Lama's Spiritual Pagoda.
4. Protection
The Potala Palace in 1984 due to the aging of the line and fire, caused the central government to attach great importance to it, in 1989 and 2001 respectively invested 53 million yuan, 200 million yuan for overhaul, the first overhaul of the Potala Palace, by the UNESCO appointed experts to identify, its protection status and cultural relics value are up to the standard of world cultural heritage, so the Potala Palace in May 1994 was listed as the "World Cultural Heritage List".
Fifth, the periphery
The Potala Palace is located in the center of Lhasa, within the range of less than 3 kilometers around it, there are Jokhang Temple, Xiaozhao Temple, Xiami Temple, Barkhor Street, Norbulingka, Tibet Museum, Tibet Library and other landscapes, as far as the Potala Palace is concerned, there is the Potala Palace Square in front, there is Longwangtan Park in the back, and there is Yaowang Mountain in the southwest, it can be said that the Potala Palace is really surrounded by scenic spots.