Lhasa (part 1)

Day Five

After breakfast at the hotel, we then proceeded to the most famous landmark in Tibet, Potala Palace at 9 am.

While walking from the carpark towards the entrance, we saw quite a large group of local Tibetans strolling in clockwise kora (circumambulation) around the base of Potala Palace (photos below). This is part of their daily routine of praying.
Chakpori Hill

Chakpori, or Chagpori, or literally "Hill of Medicine King" (药王山) is a spirit-mountain for deity Vajrapāni (photos below). It is located south of Potala Palace and towards the left of Potala Palace square when facing the palace.
It is believed that there are three main mountains of Lhasa symbolize the "Three Protectors of the Land":

• Pongwari Hill (磨盘山) represents the great Bodhisattva Manjusri (文殊菩萨) who manifests all the Buddhas' wisdom.
• Marpori Hill (红山) is the very seat of the Potala Palace represents Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (观世音菩萨) who manifests all the Buddhas' immense compassion.
• Chakpori Hill (药王山) represents Bodhisattva Vajrapani (金剛手菩萨) who protects Buddha and manifests all the Buddhas' power.

Potala Palace Square

Right in front of Potala Palace, it is the highest square in the world of 3661-meters above sea level (left photo below). It is one of the best photo spots for the majestic Potala Palace. At the south of the square stands the Monument to the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (right photo below).
Shol Village

Shol is a Tibetan word referring to the lower portion of the Potala Palace, particularly to the village just below the palace itself (photos below).
The Shol Village (雪城) stretches roughly 317-meters from east to west, and 170-meters from north to south, covering an area of about 50,000 square meters. The main historical functions of these buildings and their affiliated constructions were: 1) offices of local Tibetan government 2) residences of lay and monastic officials 3) dwellings of lower-rank employees, craftsmen and serfs, and there were also some other service installations as well.

One of the buildings is converted as a gate entrance to the Potala Palace. Long queues already formed up to enter the palace (photos below) once we reached there. We waited for about 15-mins before able to walk pass the gate. For various reasons like protection of the palace and to avoid overcrowding, only 2300 visitors are allowed per day into the palace.
The Shol inner pillar, is a stone pillar which stands at the Shol Village. It was erected to commemorate a border treaty between the Yarlung Dynasty's Tibetan Empire and the Tang Dynasty's Chinese Empire in 783. The pillar is inscribed with an old example of Tibetan writing (left photo below).

Walls are made of bundling the twigs of a local plant, and wood (right photo below). To protect the wall and for its aesthetically pleasing, the mixture of sugar and milk is used which glued easily to the wall surface.


Potala Palace

The Potala Palace (布达拉宫) is a fortress on Marpori Hill. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959 but now has been a museum.

The earlier fortress called White or Red Palace was built by Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo (松贊干布) in 637. After which, it was burned and abandoned after a war. In 1645, the fifth Dalai Lama started the construction of the modern Potala Palace after one of his spiritual advisers pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government.

🛫 Travel Trivia

What does the name of the Potala Palace mean? In Tibetan "potala" is translated as "abode of Avalokiteshvara", and in India it is "potalaka". The mountain on which the Potala Palace is located is called "Puto" in religious literature, and is considered sacred because, as the legend says, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (观世音菩萨) appeared on this mountain. Interestingly, in Zhejiang province of China, there is a Mount Putuo (普陀山) which is also sacred for the same reason.

The Palace measures 400-meters east-west and 350-meters north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3-meters thick and 5-meters thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help to proof it against earthquakes. The building consists of thirteen storeys containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shires and about 200,000 statues, raising 117-meters on top of Marpori Hill (photo below).
The stone-and-wood-structured Potala Palace consists of the White Palace and Red Palace. The White Palace, comprising halls, temples and courtyards, serves as the living quarters of the Dalai Lama. The Red Palace includes various chambers for worshipping Buddha and chambers housing the eight stupas of Dalai Lama.

Historical and Cultural Site

The Potala Palace has been declared as Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 1961 by the National Administration of Cultural Heritage (left photo below).



The Palace was inscribed in the World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994 for its exceptional and universal value of a cultural site (right photo below).

Steps to the Palace

Before entering the Palace, visitors will need to climb 365 steps from the Potala gate (photos below). It is suggested to make stop and rest a while during the climb to avoid the altitude sickness.

Entrance Gate to White Palace

After passing through the huge curtain (left photo below), visitors will be received by the highly decorative entrance gate (right photo below).
Murals of Buddhist Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王) were painted on the walls before the entrance.



• The Vessavana (多闻天王) is the chief of the four kings, king of north and ruler of rain, and represented with an umbrella on his right hand and mongoose on his left hand (left photo below).


• The Virūlhaka (增长天王) is the king of south and ruler of the wind, and represented with a sword on this right hand (right photo below).
  
  
  
  


• Dhatarattha (持国天王) is the king of east and god of music, and represented with a stringed instrument Pipa on his hands (left photo below).


• Virūpakkha (广目天王) is the king of west and able to see all, and represented with a stupla on his left hand (right photo below).
  
  
  
  

White Palace Courtyard

We then reached to the courtyard (photos below) at the eighth storey after some climbing some steps within the corridor. The square is a flat area of 1600 square meters where theatrical performances were held here for the Dalai Lama, some high clergy and officials.
From the square, the brilliant golden roofs crowned at the Pabalakan and Ramlakan pavilions can be seen. Most roofs are in the traditional shape of Chinese roofs with soaring corners. On the ridge of the roofs there are decorations in the form of bell-shaped monasteries, which rest on lotus pedestals. The flying corner roof structures are decorated with figurines of mythical Buddhist animals (left photo below).

This is where visitors would start the journey into the white palace, through the main entrance with a steep ascend ending with a wooden ladder (right photo below).
Admission ticket was then issued to us by our tour guide (photo below), and will be inspected by the palace staff prior entering. Beyond this point, no photography is allowed inside the white and red palaces.


Following are photos on the palace interior taken from the internet for illustration purposes.

Potala White Palace

The White Palace of the Potala is located east of the Red Palace, the White Palace contains the Great Eastern Pavilion, the Solar Pavilion, the living quarters of the regent and Dalai's mentors, and government offices.

The Great Eastern Pavilion is the largest pavilion of the White Palace. Important events of a political and cult nature were held here, in particular, the ceremony of enthronement of the Dalai Lamas. The throne of the Dalai Lama is installed in the centre of the pavilion at the northern wall. Above the throne is the golden inscription "Zhenxi Suijiang" (振锡绥疆) given by Qing Emperor Tongzhi in 1867 (left photo below). One of the rooms in the White Palace was the study and meditation seat of the 14th Dalai Lama (right photo below).

Potala Red Palace

The Red Palace served as a place of prayers in the name of Buddha and other religious activities; the main premises of the Red Palace are pavilions with memorial stupas of the Dalai Lamas and other places of worship. In total, there are eight memorial stupas in the Red Potala Palace, comprising of fifth, seventh, eighth, nineth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth Dalai Lama. The size and splendor of the design of the stupa symbolizes the contribution to the development of the country and society made by this Dalai Lama. The most luxurious are the stupas of the fifth Dalai Lama and the thirteenth Dalai Lama.

The huge 14.85-meters funerary chörten of the Great fifth Dalai Lama is built of sandalwood and is covered with 3,700-kg of pure gold and about 15,000 diamonds (left photo below).

The second tallest is thirteenth Dalai Lama's funerary stupa at the height of 14-meters. Built in 1933, the resplendent stupa contains more than 590-kg of gold and is embedded with 100,000 pearls and precious stones (right photo below).


In the middle part of the Red Palace are the Dharma-raja's Cave (法王洞) and several other apartments dating back from the reign of the Tubo Dynasty, the earliest Potala structures still exist. They house a valuable collection of statues, including the sculptural representation of King Songtsan Gambo (left photo below), his consorts Tang Princess Wencheng (right photo below) and Nepalese Princess Khridzun, and his prime minister.


The Potala's most sacred statue is the small, ancient and jewel-encrusted gilded sandalwood image of Arya Lokeshvara, the personal tutelary deity of Songtsen Gampo. Flanking it are Tara and Avalokiteshvara (left photo below), both made of white sandalwood. The Chapel of Kalachakra has a stunning gilt-copper three-dimensional mandala, 6.2-meters in diameter, and finely detailed with over 170 statues (right photo below).

Finally, we exited at the west side of the Palace and walk down the stairs on the back of the Potala Palace.

Lhasa City View

From the exit of the palace on top of the hill, the splendid views of Lhasa and surrounding mountains could be seen (photo below).

Zongjiao Lukang Park

Zongjiao Lukang Park (宗角禄康公园), or Dragon Lake Park, is located at the north of Potala Palace where a photo of the reflection of Potala Palace can be taken. It's also the favorite place for Tibetan people to kill their leisure time (photos below).
Lunch

After the tour we were then transferred to Xingdada Cellar (兴达大酒庄) for our lunch (left photo below). A total of seven dishes and soup were served together with rice (right photo below).
Tibet Museum

The Tibet Museum (西藏博物馆) is the official museum of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China inaugurated in 1999 (photos below). It has a collection of more than 520,000 artifacts, including pottery, jade, and Buddha statues, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
Museum Exterior

The modern museum building fuses together traditional Tibetan architecture with the modern. It is a grey brick building with dark brown and white roof furnishings with a golden orange gilded roof (left photo below). Even its main entrance represented the decorations on the Potala Palace with lions and eagles over its door (right photo below).
A pair of group sculptures stand on both sides of the museum front depicted the Tibetan Culture (left photo below) and Liberation of Tibet (right photo below).

Museum Interior

The museum is the first and largest modern in the Autonomous Region, thus it uses the latest technique in collection display (photos below).
Precious relics such as the Tibetan Auspicious Symbol made of coral and rare stones (left photo below) and Imperial Decree of Qing Emperor (right photo below) were exhibited.


Paintings such as the portrait of Tsong Khapa (left photo below) and "Rakshasa Witch lying on her Back" (right photo below) were also displayed.

Bestowed Objects

What caught my attention was the objects that were bestowed to the various religious leaders in Tibet. Following are the objects arranged in chronological order.

Seal of Tutor bestowed upon the leader of Sakya Sect of Tibetan Buddhism by Yuan Court during 13th to 14th century (left photo below). Seal of the Abhisecana State Tutor bestowed on the chief abbot of Tsuphu monastery of Kagyu Sect by Ming Emperor Yongle in 1411 (right photo below).
Seal of Great Vehicle Dharma King bestowed to leader of Sakya Sect the title of first Great Vehicle Dharma King by Ming Emperor Yongle in 1413 (left photo below). Seal of Abhisecana State Tutor bestowed by Ming Emperor Jingtai in 1456 (right photo below).
Golden Seal of Authority bestowed to fifth Dalai Lama when he had an audience with Qing Emperor Shunzhi in Beijing in 1653 (photos below).
Losang Yeshe, fifth Panchen Lama, was conferred to a title of Panchen Erdeni (班禅额尔德尼) and the Golden Seal of the fifth Panchen Lama was bestowed by Qing Emperor Kangxi in 1713 (photos below).
In the period of the Emperor Qian-long, the central government sent troops to Tibet to fight with Gurkha. After the war, the emperor issued a constitution with 29 articles, and designed a golden urn himself to send to Tibet in 1793 to determine the reincarnated boys of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Erdeni (photos below). After that, about 70 important living Buddhas were determined through the golden urn of Tibet, namely, the 10th, 11th, 12th Dalai Lama and the 8th, 9th, 11th Panchen Lama and so on. The golden urn is an important material evidence that the Chinese central government had practiced effective rule in Tibet, and had further regulated the Tibetan Buddhism.


Gold Lamp bestowed upon the 13th Dalai Lama by President Chiang Kai-shek in 1934 (left photo below). Jade Seal conferring on the 13th Dalai Lama by the National Government in 1934 (right photo below).


After the death of 13th Dalai Lama, the National Government conferred a title and bestowed this jade volume on him for memory in 1934 (left photo below). Vice Premier Chen Yi bestowed this Jade Pot to the 14th Dalai Lama on behalf of Chairman Mao in 1956 when the Preparatory Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region was founded (right photo below).

We left the museum after exploring for an hour.

Dinner

We then went to the same restaurant Xingdada Cellar (兴达大酒庄) for dinner (left photo below). A total of six dishes with soup were served together with rice (right photo below).
After dinner we transferred back to hotel for an early rest.