There is something about the location of Lhasa – on the roof of the world. This mountainous country in the Himalayas feels so remote and islolated. The location is on a plateau of more than 4000 m. above sea level surrounded by the highest mountains in the world. Mt. Everest is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Since Lhasa is located 4000 m. above sea level, you have to take it slowly for a couple of days in order to adjust to the hight.

Lhasa is still the ancient capital of Tibet. On my travels in Tibet I noticed many old houses built in the traditional architectural style. But the building that definitly made a deep impression was the Potala Palace. To me this iconic building seems as one of the most beautiful I have seen. The Potala Palace used to be the seat of the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan government. The last Dalai Lama to live here was Tenzin Gyatso who is the present and 14th Dalai Lama. After the Chineese takeover he fled to northern India in 1959 and is still living here, as far as I know. The Dalai Lama is considered to be the supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The long line of Dalai Lamas dates as far back as to 1391.

Today the Potala Palace function as a museum and in 1994 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. The Potala is located on a hill that makes it visible from a long distance. It's massive! Like a fortress. The building itself has a hight of 13 stories. To walk up the stairs was a bit strenous, because of the altitude. We had to take many short breaks.

This amazing building is impresssive on the inside as well. It contains more than a thousand rooms. 10,000 altars and 20,000 statues (according to our guide). But unfortunatly only a few rooms are open to the public, so we didn't see much of it.

The palace, as it appears today, was built during the reign of the 5 th. Dalai Lama. The construction began in 1645. There are two main areas - the White Palace and the Red Palace. The White was the first to be completed. Later the Red Palace was build to honour the 5 th. Dalai Lama who died in 1682. I read that his death was kept a secret for as long as it took to complete this part of the palace. That was a long time. I did wonder how they managed to keep it a secret as it was not completed before the year 1694!

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama

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