Potala Palace immense religious and administrative complex in Lhasa

Potala Palace is considered a model of Tibetan architecture. Located on the Red Hill in Lhasa, Tibet, it is 3,700 meters above sea level and covers an area of over 360,000 square meters, measuring 360 meters from east to west and 270 meters from south to north. The palace has 13 stories, and is 117 meters high. Interesting in Potala Palace Tour? HRC is pleased to offer great service to build a unique China tour for you.

 
Potala Palace immense religious and administrative complex in Lhasa, southern Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. It is situated atop Mar-po-ri (Red Mountain), 425 feet (130 metres) above the Lhasa River valley, and rises up dramatically from its rocky base. Potrang Karpo (completed 1648; White Palace) once served as the seat of the Tibetan government and the main residence of the Dalai Lama; from the mid-18th century it was used as a winter palace. Potrang Marpo (1694; Red Palace) houses several chapels, sacred statues, and the tombs of eight Dalai Lamas; it remains a major pilgrimage site for Tibetan Buddhists.

The central part of this group of buildings rises in a vast quadrangular mass above its satellites to a great height, terminating in gilt canopies similar to those on the Jokhang. This central member of Potala is called the "red palace" from its crimson colour, which distinguishes it from the rest. It contains the principal halls and chapels and shrines of past Dalai Lamas. There is in these much rich decorative painting, with jewelled work, carving and other ornamentation.

Yumbu Lhakhang is the first palace of Tibet

Yumbu Lhakhang, the first palace of Tibet, is located on the Zhaxi Ceri Mountain, 5 kilometers from Nedong County in Lhoka Prefecture.
A legend counts Yumbu Lhakhang Palace as the first palace in Tibet. According to a legend of followers of the Bon Religion, Yumbu Lhakhang Palace was erected in the second century BC for the first Tibetan king Nitri Tsampo, who was believed to descende from the sky.

As the ancient palace of the Tibetan kings prominenting on a rocky hill, it is a narrow rectangular building with a slender white tower topped by a gilded rgya-phibs canopy. According to Tibetan legend, during the reign of the 28th king Lha Thothori Nyantsen in the 5th century, the first Buddhist Sutra to enter Tibet fell from the sky onto the roof of Yumbu Lhakhang together with a small golden stupa and a jewel.By tradition it was founded by the mythical king Nya-khri Btsan-po and it is associated, rather more possibly, with king Tho-tho-ri who may be placed tentatively in the middle of the fifth century. The story gives sanctity to the building which, which is approached by a narrow path up a steep hill and entered through a low door beyond which a steep ladder leads to the first floor.