Potala Palace: Where History, Religion, and Architecture Converge

Today, we’ll talk about the Potala Palace, a 1,300-year-old architectural and cultural marvel that has served as the spiritual and political heart of Tibetan Buddhism, housing sacred relics, murals, and scriptures that embody the region’s rich heritage and enduring legacy.

Transcript

Potala Palace: Where History, Religion, and Architecture Converge

Today, we’ll talk about the Potala Palace, a 1,300-year-old architectural and cultural marvel that has served as the spiritual and political heart of Tibetan Buddhism, housing sacred relics, murals, and scriptures that embody the region’s rich heritage and enduring legacy.

On April 27, 2025, a special exhibition opened at the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan Province called “Potala Palace: A World Cultural Heritage from the Plateau”. The exhibition brings together 186 artifacts from the Potala Palace collection, including statues of deities, thangkas, scriptures, ritual objects, garments, daily utensils, wooden architectural components, and masks. Over one-third of the items are on public display for the first time.

The Potala Palace, with its history of over 1,300 years, is regarded as a sacred place by many for its unique architectural artistry and rich ethnic culture. In the early 7th century, Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd king of the Tubo Dynasty, unified various tribes and established a local regime in Xizang, making significant contributions to the development of China’s southwestern frontier. To better govern the people and consolidate his rule, Songtsen Gampo decided to move the capital to Lhasa.

According to the Chronicle of the Kings of Xizang, Songtsen Gampo, following the footsteps of his ancestors, arrived at the lower reaches of the Lhasa River. There, beside the lush and level banks of Lake Wotang, he saw a red hill that resembled a leaping lion. He decided to build a grand palace on this red hill, which came to be known historically as the “Red Hill Palace” – the predecessor of the Potala Palace. During the Tubo Dynasty, the palace constructed on the Red Hill was surrounded by three layers of walls and contained 1,000 rooms, serving as the political center of the Tubo regime.

In the 9th century, with the collapse of the Tubo Dynasty, Red Hill Palace gradually fell into disuse. Struck by lightning and ravaged by war, most of the palace was destroyed. Only two structures – namely the Dharma King Cave and the Phabala Hall – survive to this day. For over 800 years thereafter, due to the constant shifts in Xizang’s political centers, the palace remained unrestored.

In 1645, the Fifth Dalai Lama decided to rebuild the palace, and after three years, its civil construction was completed, establishing a complex centered around the White Palace. In 1653, the Fifth Dalai Lama moved into the Potala Palace. And from then on, successive Dalai Lamas resided there, and major political and religious ceremonies were held within its walls, making the Potala Palace the theocratic center of Xizang.

The Potala Palace contains eight golden stupas, which are sacred and culturally distinctive pagoda-shaped tombs used exclusively for the bones or ashes of deceased high-ranking monks and living Buddhas. The earliest of which is that of the Fifth Dalai Lama. According to historical records, in 1690, when construction began on his tomb and the associated shrine – what is now the main structure of the central section called the Red Palace – Qing Dynasty emperor Kangxi dispatched 114 craftsmen from various ethnic groups, including Manchu and Han, to support the project. Afterward, the palace underwent multiple expansions, culminating in 1934 with the completion of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s stupa hall, bringing the Potala Palace to its present scale.

Today, the Potala Palace stands built into the hillside, its highest point reaching an elevation of over 3,700 meters. It covers a total area of 36,000 square meters, with a total floor area of 13,000 square meters. The palace complex stretches more than 360 meters from east to west and about 140 meters from north to south. It consists of several sections, the main two of which are the Red Palace and the White Palace. The Red Palace, located at the center, appears to have 13 stories from the outside but has nine levels internally. The White Palace extends across both wings and rises seven stories high. The entire architectural ensemble, with its alternating red and white structures, features an overlapping layout of buildings and halls, creating a majestic and harmonious visual impression.

Being “built into the mountain” is a traditional architectural approach in Tibetan design, intended to harness the natural contours of the terrain to evoke a sense of sanctity and grandeur. The Potala Palace exemplifies this concept to its fullest. In ancient times, without any modern construction equipment, artisans skillfully leveraged the mountain’s natural structure to construct corresponding halls. The towering Red Palace was placed at the summit, while various other halls and chambers were arranged in a balanced yet layered fashion, creating both spatial rhythm and structural unity.

The palace’s walls were built with vertical inner faces and tapering outer sides (a technique known as contracture), emphasizing the solid and weighty style typical of Tibetan architecture. The eaves of the walls were finished with baima grass coated in reddish ochre pigment – an element that both reduced the weight burden on the structure and enhanced visual appeal. The outer walls were painted in bold hues of red, white, yellow, and black, creating a striking and distinctive contrast.

Historically, grand stone structures were rare in ancient China. The Potala Palace not only enriched the repertoire of ancient Chinese architecture but also became one of the most unique palace-fortress complexes in global architectural history. Its core is formed by the White Palace, Red Palace, Deyangshar platform, watchtowers, and monks’ quarters. The architectural structure resembles that of a typical Tibetan monastery, built with stone-and-wood frameworks stacked layer by layer. The reddish tamarisk-lined eaves soften the austere feel of the stone walls, while golden Han-style roofs reflect dazzling light under the highland sun. The round towers on the east and west sides further add dynamic visual variety to the grand complex.

The Potala Palace houses and preserves a vast collection of historical artifacts, embodying the outstanding cultural, artistic, and religious achievements of the Tibetan, Han, Manchu, Mongolian, and other ethnic groups. In addition to the eight golden stupas of the Dalai Lamas, it contains five exquisitely crafted three-dimensional mandalas, as well as more than 70,000 cultural relics – including porcelain, gold, silver and bronze ware, Buddha statues, stupas, thangkas, traditional clothing, and more – alongside over 60,000 volumes of ancient texts.

The oldest surviving structure in the Potala Palace is the meditation chamber known as the Dharma King Cave, where Songtsen Gampo once practiced retreat. This small hall, connected to a natural cave, enshrines statues of Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng. After building the palace on Red Hill, Songtsen Gampo sent his minister, Ludongzan, to Chang’an to propose marriage to the Tang court, offering “5,000 taels of gold as a betrothal gift.” In 641 AD, Emperor Taizong of Tang agreed, and Princess Wencheng – of the imperial clan – was married off to Xizang.

When Princess Wencheng entered Xizang, she brought with her many books on astronomy, calendrical systems, medicine, and various crafts. The Tibetan calendar still in use today was developed based on the integration of Han Chinese calendrical knowledge with the specific needs of Tibetan regions and the practical experiences of the Tibetan people. In addition, she introduced numerous Han artisans skilled in papermaking, brewing, and other crafts, greatly contributing to the economic and cultural exchange between the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetan kingdom.

In the largest hall of the Red Palace – Sisipingcuo Hall – there is a pair of magnificent curtains regarded as some of the rarest treasures of the Potala Palace. These ornate hangings were specially commissioned in 1696 by Emperor Kangxi, who ordered them to be painted in the style of traditional Tibetan thangka art. In that same year, he sent officials to deliver them to Lhasa as a gift to celebrate the completion of the Red Palace, symbolizing the close ties between the central government and Xizang, as well as the deep friendship among China’s various ethnic groups.

After the Fifth Dalai Lama, stupas for the Seventh through Thirteenth Dalai Lamas were successively constructed within the Red Palace. Among them, the stupa of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama stands as the most grand and magnificent. In 1904, British imperial forces launched a large-scale military invasion into Xizang, marking the second armed incursion into Chinese territory. In the face of this life-or-death crisis, the 28-year-old Thirteenth Dalai Lama led monks and laypeople alike in a courageous resistance. Armed with only the most rudimentary weapons, they fiercely battled the British invaders, who were equipped with some of the most advanced military technology of the time.

Throughout the halls of the Potala Palace, the walls are adorned with murals, scroll thangkas, and woodblock prints, all exquisitely painted with fine brushwork and flowing lines. In the Dharma King Cave, some murals from over 1,300 years ago still retain their vibrant colors. Beyond depictions of Buddhist figures and stories, the murals also capture major historical events, including Princess Wencheng’s journey to Xizang, the Fifth Dalai Lama’s audience with Emperor Shunzhi in Beijing, and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s audiences with Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi.

The texts housed in the Potala Palace include Sanskrit palm-leaf scriptures, ancient Tibetan manuscripts, government documents, and a Manchu-language Tripitaka, covering a wide range of subjects such as history, religion, politics, and culture. These works represent the richness and depth of Tibetan civilization. Among them, the Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts – Buddhist scriptures inscribed on pattra leaves – are preserved in the Red Palace. These texts are voluminous, well-preserved, and hold immense scholarly value.

The government documents in the Potala Palace date back to the Yuan Dynasty and mainly consist of imperial edicts and decrees issued by the central government, offering vital evidence of the longstanding interactions between the central authorities and the Tibetan region. Of particular note are the 288 imperial edicts from the Qing emperors – these are archived “residual historical materials” that powerfully demonstrate the central government’s effective governance over Xizang.

The Manchu-language Tripitaka is another rare treasure. Only two complete sets are known to exist – one in the Potala Palace and the other in the Forbidden City in Beijing – making them exceptionally valuable.

The Potala Palace houses a vast collection of invaluable cultural relics, including Buddhist statues, murals, and thangkas. However, traditional manual recording methods are not only inefficient but also fall short in fully and accurately preserving the enduring beauty of these treasures. This has called for a more refined and scientific approach to the protection of the palace’s heritage. In response, staff at the Potala Palace have been actively exploring digital technologies to achieve comprehensive and meticulous documentation of the site.

After years of effort, they have successfully used advanced equipment such as high-resolution cameras and image processing tools to carry out detailed digital recording of the palace’s murals. This has enabled the permanent preservation of each mural in digital form.

Nevertheless, the process of digitally modeling the entire structure presented significant challenges. The Potala Palace features a highly complex architectural layout, with dense interior furnishings and trapezoidal walls that taper upward, which makes surveying them extremely difficult. One of the greatest obstacles was the presence of “earth ridges” – foundational structures built into the mountain to support the palace. Due to the building’s age, the specific conditions of these earth ridges had remained unclear for a long time.

After countless trials and adjustments, the team successfully completed a comprehensive and precise survey by employing aerial drone photography, 3D laser scanning, and multi-angle image reconstruction. These efforts culminated in the creation of a complete digital model of the Potala Palace.

Today, powered by cutting-edge technology, this ancient site has gained new vitality: with a simple mouse click, users can explore everything from the three-dimensional structure to the finest mural details. Nearly 800 structural sensors have already collected over 10 million sets of data, while more than 1,500 detection devices and nearly 9 kilometers of temperature-sensitive optical fibers constantly monitor the real-time status of this historic architectural marvel.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Wang Yuyan, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.