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___ Famous Landmarks - Satellite View of Potala Palace (པོ་ཏ་ལ), Lhasa, Tibet

 
Potala Palace complex, Lhasa
The front side of Potala Palace complex in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region (Xizang) - Image: Antoine Taveneaux
 

About Potala Palace

The Potala complex in Lhasa with its massive walls, gates and turrets built of rammed earth and stone, comprises the White and the Red Palaces and several ancillary constructions. They were built on the Red Mountain in the center of Lhasa Valley.

Lozang Gyatso, the Fifth Dalai Lama, started the construction of the Potala Palace in 1645. The complex symbolizes Tibetan Buddhism and its central role in the traditional administration of a unified Tibet. The Potala Palace was the core of the Tibetan theocracy, and the winter palace the chief residence of the Dalai Lama from the end of the 17th century until 1959.

The palace contains 698 murals, almost 10,000 painted scrolls, numerous sculptures, carpets, canopies, curtains, porcelain, jade, and fine objects of gold and silver, as well as a large collection of sutras and important historical documents. The Red Palace contains the gilded burial stupas of past Dalai Lamas.

The Potala Palace complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site official website. The Historic Ensemble of the Potala comprises the White and Red Palaces, Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace, and the Jokhang monastery. For most Tibetans the 7th-century Jokhang monastery near the palace, is the most sacred and the most revered site in Tibet.

Satellite view is showing the location of Potala Palace, the Jokhang monastery and Ramoche temple monastery in Tibet's capital Lhasa which lies at an elevation of 3750 m above sea level.
 
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Google Earth: Satellite View of Potala Palace, the Jokhang monastery, and Ramoche monastery, Lhasa.

Google Earth Explore 3D model of the Potala Palace in Google Earth
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External Links:
Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa
UNESCO World Heritage page for Potala Palace and Jokhang temple monastery.

Wikipedia: Potala Palace
Wikipedia article: Potala Palace.
 
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