The Potala Palace ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་

World Heritage Site

The Potala Palace  ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་  포탈라 궁 (布達拉宮)

 

Jimie 16.04.09 07:34

The Potala Palace   ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་  Po-ta-la

is a dzong fortress in the city of Lhasa, in Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and is a World Heritage Site since 1994.

 

The site on which the Potala Palace rises is built over a palace erected by Songtsen Gampo on the Red Hill.

Songtsen Gampo (Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ,) was the 33rd Tibetan king and founder of the Tibetan Empire, and is traditionally credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet.

 

Lozang Gyatso (Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (Tibetan: ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་), the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, started the construction of the modern Potala Palace in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel (died 1646), pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. The external structure was built in 3 years, while the interior, together with its furnishings, took 45 years to complete.

The Dalai Lama and his government moved into the Potrang Karpo ('White Palace') in 1649. Construction lasted until 1694, some twelve years after his death. The Potala was used as a winter palace by the Dalai Lama from that time. The Potrang Marpo ('Red Palace') was added between 1690 and 1694.

 

The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The 5th Dalai Lama started its construction in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel (died 1646), pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa.  It may overlay the remains of an earlier fortress called the White or Red Palace on the site, built by Songtsen Gampo in 637.

 

The building measures 400 metres (1,300 ft) east-west  and 350 metres (1,150 ft) north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick, and 5 metres (16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen storeys of buildings, containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues, soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 metres (980 ft) in total above the valley floor.

 

Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet". Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (Wylie: bla ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjusri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Avalokiteśvara.

 

 

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달라이라마[DalaiLama]의 궁전-포탈라궁(The Potala Palace)

 

 

달라이라마[DalaiLama]의 궁전-포탈라궁(布達拉宮)

 

티베트자치구 라사 포탈라산 마르포리(붉은 언덕) 경사면에 있는 달라이 라마의 궁전.
“포탈라”란 ＜관세음보살이 사는 곳＞의 와음(訛音)이다.
관음은 건국의 영주 송첸 감포왕 또는 역대 달라이로 화신(化身)하여 여기에 살고 있다고 믿고 있다.
현재의 궁전은 7세기에 송첸 감포왕이 지었다는 거성 자리에 달라이 라마 5세가 17세기 중기에 건설하였다

 

 

포탈라궁 (布達拉宮) Potala Palace

시짱(西藏:티베트) 자치구의 주도(州都) 라싸에 있는 달라이라마의 궁전. 티베트 전통건축의 걸작으로서 훙산산
(해발 3600m) 기슭에 요새 모양으로 지은 고층 건축군이다.
토번(吐 蕃)왕 손첸 감포가 축조하였다는 홍산궁전의 자리에 달라이라마가 5세가 17세기 중반에 건설하였다.
외관 13층, 실제 9층으로 되어 있고 전체 높이 117m, 동서 길이 360m, 총면적 10만㎡에 이르며 벽은 두께 2∼5m의 화강암과 나무를 섞어서 만들었다.

 

건물 꼭대기에는 황금빛 궁전 3채가 있고 그 아래로 5기의 황금탑이 세워져 있다.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tibet's Mount Everest Base Camp