This world-famous architectural wonder is built on the escarpments of Red Hill and rises high above the valley floor. The awesome Potala can be seen from all directions for miles around. The present Potala was built mainly in the Fifth Dalai Lama made the Norbulingka into a summer residence. The Potala remained the centre of political and religious power for the dalai lamas.

It contained the living quarters of the dalai lamas while they lived with over 1,000 rooms, and their sumptuous golden tombs when they died. Regents, tutors and other high lamas also had apartments in the palace. The Potala held the offices of government, a huge printing house at its base where Buddhist scriptures were handprint from woodblock, and a seminary to train government officials, run by the elite order of monks of Namgyal Monastery who surrounded the god-king. Hundreds of gilded statues- Tibet's pantheon of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, saints and demons. The round, outside towers were fortifications, but legend says they are wings to fly the Potala to safety from a future devastating flood.

Beneath the splendid ceremonial areas of the palace lay a warren of soot blackened cells for monks and servants, and two great treasuries- one for the dalai lamas and regents, and the other for the state. Still lower lay granaries and storerooms filed with pilgrims' gifts and enough yak butter to fuel the Potala's countless votive lamps for years. At the base, carved from living rock, were the dungeons, the dreaded Cave of Scorpions, from which enemies of the rules rarely emerged.

Layout
With one small yellow portion between them, the Potala consists of a White Palace and a Red Palace. The White Palace was built in the lifetime of the Fifth Dalai Lama, then extended to its present size by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in the early 20th century. The Great Fifth died in 1682, but the death was concealed for ten years by the regent, who explained his absence as a series of religious retreats. During that ten years the Red Palace was built.

For secular use, the White Palace contained living quarters, offices, the seminary and the printing house. The Red Palace's function was religious. It contained gold stupas , which were the tombs of eight dalai lamas, the monk's assembly hall, numerous chapels and shrines, and libraries for Buddhist scriptures: the Kanjur with 108 volumes, and the Tenjur with 227. The yellow building between the main palaces housed giant banners( thangkas) embroidered with the Buddha and holy symbols that hung across the Potala's south face during the last day of the second lunar month.

Construction of the Potala's south face during the last day of the second lunar month. Construction of the Potala was a huge undertaking. It is 13 stories ( 100 meters or 330 feet) high, 400 meters ( 1.310 feet) east to west, and 350 meters ( 1,150 feet) north to south. Its inward-sloping stone walls are, on average, three meters ( ten feet) thick, fully five meters ( over 16 feet) thick at the base. Copper was poured into the foundations to help them withstand earthquakes. So much earth was dug up for mortar behind Red Hill that the pit was turned into a lake. ( The flighty Six Dalai Lama later added a pavilion in the middle of it for his dalliances).

The upper parts of the Potala have such finely joined wooden brackets, beams and eaves that no nails were needed. The upper exterior walls are made from twigs rammed end-in and painted brownish-red - a uniquely Tibetan style reserved for sacred buildings and houses of nobles in high authority. The roofs are made of gilded copper. Murals in the Red Palace's lower gallery show the building of the Potala in splendid detail.

Tour groups are brought by bus up Red Hill to enter the Red Palace at the western end. Individuals and pilgrims approach through Sho, a village at the base of Red Hill formerly enclosed within the Potala's compound wall. A steep climb up the main east-central flight of steps leads to the eastern portal of the White Palace. The approaches to both entrances are decorated with main stones, small cairns, prayer flags and knotted garlands of yak hair left by pilgrims as devotional offerings.

Only a relatively small part of the Potala is open to the public, but it is still easy to get lost. The central Yellow-painted courtyard, or Deyangshar, of the White Palace is reached from the East Portal by a broad corridor that climbs upward between thick walls to an entrance with hanging drums. The large, open court is surrounded by a two-story gallery of rooms ( former offices) embellished with sacred emblems. On the west side is the exterior of the dalai lama's living quarters, from whose upper windows the god-king watched religious ceremonies and performances below. On the east is Tsedrung Seminary ( left) and its dormitory ( right). A souvenir shop and tour guide office are located on the north side.

The roof is reached by a series of ladder-stairs from the west side of the courtyard. The first hallway contains an edict of the Fifth Dalai Lama, copied from the original and signed with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's handprint. Opposite, murals depict construction in the seventh century AD. The flat roof has some fine examples of the golden roof ornaments and finials that are typical the Tibetan religious architecture. There is also an unsurpassed view of the Lhasa Valley.

The apartments on the east side of the roof belonged to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth dalai lamas. The Chamber of Eastern Light, with a throne and library, overlooks the main courtyard. Proceeding clockwise through formal living rooms, one reaches the suite of the present Dalai Lama, who is now in India. The innermost room contains his yellow iron bed and personal belongings, such as a clock and calendar, left almost exactly as they were on the day of his departure.

From the west side of the roof, a chapel with a giant Maitreya statue gives entry to the Six Dalai Lama's chanting hall formal rooms. A corridor beyond leads to the Red Palace through a hall that houses the tombs of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth dalai lamas behind red doors with gold grills. Here, too, sits a statue of the Sixth. He has no tomb because he disappeared, aged 23, after being kidnapped.

The Saint's Chapel, on the north side of this hall, is the Potala's holiest shrine. A big gold and blue inscription over the door was written by the 19th century Chinese emperor Tong Zhi, proclaiming Buddhism a ' blessed field of wonderful fruit'. This chapel, like the Dharma Cave below it, dates from the seventh century. It contains a small, ancient, jewel-encrusted statue of Chenrezi with two attendants. On the floor below, a low, dark passage leads into the Dharma Cave, there Songtsen Gampo is believed to have studied Buddhism. Here in the company of many divinities are images of Songtsen Gampo, his wives, his chief minister and Tonmi Sambhota, the scholar who developed Tibetan writing.

The layout of the Red Palace is complicated. Its centre is the Great West Hall with four large chapels.Light comes in from a free-standing pavilion built directly overhead, around which are three levels of open galleries like a hollow square. Chapels open off these galleries.

The Great West Hall and its chapels proclaim the glory and power of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The hall is noted for its fine murals, reminiscent of Persian miniatures, depicting events in the Fifth Dalai Lama's life. The famous scene of his visit to Emperor Shun Zhi in Beijing is located on the east wall just outside the entrance. Special cloth from Bhutan wraps the hall's numerous columns. Four important chapels open off the Great West Hall, which should be visited in a clockwise sequence.

The North Chapel ( where tour groups enter) centers on a crowned Sakyamuni Buddha ( left) and the Fifth Dalai Lama( right), seated on magnificent gold thrones. Their equal height and shared aura imply equal status. Far left is the gold stupa tomb of the Eleventh Dalai Lama, who died as a child, with two rows of benign Medicine Buddhas, the Heavenly healers. On the right are Chenrezi and his historical incarnations, including Songtsen Gampo and the first four dalai lamas. Scriptures ( loose leaves wrapped in silk between wooden covers) from a pigeonhole library.

The East Chapel is dedicated to Tsong Khapa, founder of the Yellow Hat Sect. His central figure is surrounded by lamas from Sakya Monastery, who briefly ruled Tibet from the mid-14th century to the mid-15th century and formed their own sect until many were converted by Tsong Khapa. Other statues include the alert-looking dalai lamas.

The South Chapel centers on Padmasambhava, the eighth-century Indian magician-saint. His Tibetan wife, a gift from the king, is by his right knee. Left, eight of his holy manifestations meditate with inturned gaze. Right, eight wrathful manifestations wield instruments of magic power to subdue demons of the Bon faith. Beautiful thangkas hang above.

The West Chapel contains five golden stupas. The gigantic central one contains the mummified body of the Fifth Dalai Lama. This stupa, built of sandalwood, is coated with 3,720 kilograms ( 8,200 pounds ) of gold ' as thick as a cow's hide' and studded with semi-precious jewels. It rises for more than three stories, 14.8 meters ( 48.5 feet) high. On the left is the funeral stupa of the Twelfth Dalai Lama, and on the right that of the Tenth. The stupas at both ends contain scriptures.

On the floor above, the First Gallery has windows that give light and ventilation to the Great West Hall and chapels below. Between the windows, superb murals show the Potala's construction in fine detail.

The Second Gallery gives access to the central pavilion, where visitors can rest, have a cup of tea, and buy souvenirs. This gallery also has excellent murals with scenes from Tibetan history.

The Third Gallery has, besides fine murals, a superb three-dimensional Kalachakra mandala in gold and copper, about four meters ( 13 feet) in diameter and 2.5 meters ( eight feet ) high, in its own special chapel. Take your flashlight! The Seventh Dalai Lama's chanting hall and apartment are on the south side. On the east, an entrance connects with the Saint's Chapel, and on to the White Palace.

A trip to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's Tomb must be in company with a monk and a Potala guide ( none of whom speak foreign languages). Located west of the Great West Hall , it can be reached only from an upper floor. Built in 1933, the giant stupa contains priceless jewels and a ton of gold. It is 14 meters ( 46 feet) high. Devotional offerings include elephant tusks from India, porcelain lions and vases, and a pagoda made of 200,000 pearls. Elaborate murals in traditional style show many events from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's life in the 20th century