During peak periods from May to October, visitors are only allowed one hour inside the
palace, so are hurried through, as it takes quite some time to climb all the way to the top where the majority of the artifacts are kept.I was lucky, first to get in at all, and then to have more time to study and explore the places where we were allowed to go. The rule is that you usually have to pre-order a ticket the day before during the off-season, but at least a week before during the heavy season, and even then you might not get in, as there is a restriction as to how many people may enter per day. I was lucky to walk right up to the wicket and get a ticket.
Upon entering the East Portal, visitors come into the Deyang Shar courtyard where Dalai Lamas watched Tibetan opera.Pilgrims come from far away to visit this shrine, and daily there are hordes of Buddhist followers who do prostrations in front of it every morning.
I was told the region the family in front of me came from, but I've forgotten, though I do remember that if they came by bus, it would have taken them at least a week to get there. They carried a bag of yak butter, and reverently put some of it in the bowl in front of every shrine that was for this purpose.
I took my time climbing to the top, admiring the vistas from the height as went along, absorbing the atmosphere, and imagining what it once must have been like.
Tourists really only see the interior of the top two stories, and are not allowed to wander anywhere else. Nor were we allowed to take any interior photographs.
Perched upon Marpo Ri hill, 130 meters above the Lhasa valley, the Potala Palace rises a further 170 meters and is the greatest monumental structure in all of Tibet.
"Since its construction, the Potala Palace has been the residence to each Dalai Lama and the seat of the Tibetan government. It was left relatively unscathed during the Cultural Revolution."
The Potala Palace consists of two palaces - the Red Palace and the White Place. The White Palace was for the residences and the political and governing areas of Tibet, while the Red Palace was the spiritual section. http://www.sacredsites.com/asia/tibet/potala_palace.html
This is the home where the current Dalai Lama, the 14th one, (and others) grew up and resided until his forced exile in 1959 to Dharamsala, India
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potala_Palace). His living quarters were in the White Palace. This palace was for secular uses and contained the living quarters, offices, the seminary and the printing house. (He used this palace in the winter time, moving to the Summer Palace in the summer.)A central, yellow-painted courtyard known as a Deyangshar separates the living quarters of the
Lama and his monks with the Red Palace, the other side of the sacred Potala, which is completely devoted to religious study and prayer. It contains the sacred gold stupas—the tombs of eight Dalai Lamas—the monks' assembly hall, numerous chapels and shrines, and libraries for the important Buddhist scriptures. (The scriptures are written in gold ink.)Today the Potala Palace has been converted into a museum by the Chinese Government. This impressive building contains over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues.
"The palace was slightly damaged during the Chinese attack on the Tibetans in 1959, when Chinese shells were launched into the palace's windows. It also escaped damage during the Cultural Revolution in 1966 through the personal intervention of Zhou Enlai[12], who was then the Premier of the People's Republic of China but who personally opposed the revolution. Still, almost all of the over 100,000 volumes of scriptures, historical documents and other works of art were either removed, damaged or destroyed." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potala_Palace
Fulfilling numerous functions, the Potala was first and foremost the residence of the Dalai Lama and his large staff. In addition, it was the seat of Tibetan government, where all ceremonies of state were held; it housed a school for religious training of monks and administrators; and it was one of Tibet's major pilgrimage
destinations because of the tombs of past Dalai Lamas.
Construction of the present palace began in 1645 during the reign of the fifth Dalai Lama and by 1648 the Potrang Karpo, or White Palace, was completed. The Potrang Marpo, or Red Palace, was added between 1690 and 1694; its construction required the labors of more than 7000 workers and 1500 artists and craftsman.
In 1922 the 13th Dalai Lama renovated many chapels and assembly halls in the White Palace and added two stories to the Red Palace. The Potala Palace was only slightly damaged during the Tibetan uprising against the invading Chinese in 1959. Unlike most other Tibetan religious structures, it was not sacked by the Red Guards during the 1960s and 1970s, apparently through the personal intervention of Chou En Lai. As a result, all the chapels and their artifacts are very well preserved.
Among the 8 tomb pagodas of the Dalai Lamas, the 5th tomb is the most extravagant. It stands as high as 14m and used 11,000 ounces of gold in its gold plating. The designs and decorations on them all are inlaid with diamonds, peals, turquoises, agates, corals etc.
There are also stored the world treasure-the gold hand-written Buddhist scriptures, valuable gifts from the Chinese emperors and a lot of priceless antiques.
Inside the smell of yak oil, yak wax and incense is overwhelming. Other than the candles and the body heat of people, there is no heating in the temples so the Monks wear heavy red robes.
I did find one web site that has a few photographs of the interior of the palace, but not many: http://www.100gogo.com/tibet/pa1.htm
At the peak of its operations there were over 5,000 monks living here, and then in more recent times, only 1,000. Currently there are only 35 caretaker monks and maybe about 100 in total (I can't recall what my guide told me and of course the numbers keep changing. I'm sure there are a few less since the March 14, 2008 riots.)We climbed up the front of the palace, but returned by the back entrance. Along the way there were tiles and slabs of rock with mantras written on them, for people to read and take heart.
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