Potala Palace
Situated on the Lhasa River in the northwest of the old Lhasa city, the Potala Palace on the Maburi Hill (originally called Red Hill) is at the sea level of 3,756.5m. It is the highest complex of palace castle above the sea level in the world.
Potala is the literal translation of Putuoluo, the palace of Buddha in Sanskrit. In the 7th century, Songzanganbu, the Tibetan monarch, was related with the Tang emperor through marriage. In order to meet and marry the princess Wencheng, he built a palace here as the symbol of the unity of Tibetan and Han peoples. Up to the middle of the 17th century, Dalai V was conferred the title of Tibetan monarch by the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. To consolidate the system of political and religious combination, he began to rebuilt and make an extension to the palace, the construction of which lasted for fifteen years. Many years later, Dalai VIR built it again to its present scale.
The Potala Palace was built resting against the hill. The main body of the construction, consisting of thirteen floors, is 117.19m high. The floor space covers l30,000m2. The complex of the whole palace is lofty, rugged and overlapped. The style of the construction shows the cultural ferment of Tibetan and Han. It is the artistic cream of Tibetan constructions. With the red palace in the middle and the white palaces at the two wings, the building, marked for its imposing grandeur, is as lofty as rainbow spinning the sky, reflecting the superb skills of talented workers and artisans of Tibetan, Hans, Mongolian and Manchu, and the great achievements of Tibetan constructing art. It is a resplendent pearl in the history of ancient Chinese architecture, and a cultural and artistic gem of the world.