Potala Palace

Gazing up at the Snowy Sacred Temple — Potala Palace Standing atop Red Hill, the Potala Palace is Lhasa’s most magnificent symbol of faith. This fortress-style architectural complex, originally built in the 7th century AD, stands like a silent guardian for a thousand years. No matter from which angle you look up at it, you can feel its solemn and majestic aura. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the white palace walls and the red palace’s golden roofs shine together, reflecting in the Dragon King Pond in front of the square, forming the most recognizable emblem of Tibet. The predecessor of the Potala Palace was the “Red Hill Palace” built by Songtsen Gampo to welcome Princess Wencheng, which was later destroyed by war. In 1645, the Fifth Dalai Lama began reconstruction, which took 48 years to reach its current scale. The main structure is divided into two parts—the White Palace, which served as the Dalai Lama’s winter palace, and the Red Palace, which houses the stupas of past Dalai Lamas. The most astonishing aspect is the architectural wisdom of the Potala Palace: the entire palace was built without a single nail or rivet, using only stone and wood; the walls were painted with a mixture of milk, honey, and saffron mixed into lime, which is why they remain vibrant after three hundred years of weathering; over 1,300 rooms are scattered across the 117-meter-high mountain, yet the structure remains as solid as a rock. The Potala Palace is most moving at dawn. When the first ray of sunlight shines on the gilded roofs, Tibetan elders spinning prayer wheels have already circled hundreds of times. Standing in the square looking up, you often see pilgrims performing full-body prostrations, measuring the distance of their faith with their bodies. The fine dust raised when their foreheads touch the ground turns into golden stars in the morning light. Special tips: Visits require advance reservation, photography inside the palace is prohibited; walking clockwise around the palace is a traditional Tibetan custom; remember to bring an oxygen bottle, as the 1,080 steps can trigger sudden altitude sickness. This is not just a palace, but a spiritual refuge for the people of the snowy land. When I stood at the Yaowang Mountain viewing platform, watching the dusk gild the outline of the Potala Palace, I finally understood what “a pure land on earth” truly means.