The Potala Palace is located at an altitude of 3,700 meters on the Red Mountain in the center of Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. It has become a world famous monument because of its long history;the national aesthetic characteristics expressed by the architecture;and its representation of thespecial value for the study of the social history, culture and religion of the Tibetan nationality.

According to historical records,in the 730s, the thirty-third generation of the Tubo King Songtsen Gampo moved their capital to southwest China's Lhasa cityandbegan to build the Potala Palace for the royal family. At that time, the entire palace was built on a grand scale, with three walls outside and thousands of chambers inside. Here,Songtsen Gampo divided the administrative area, divided the officials, made the law, ordered the courtiers,governed the whole ofTubo, and sent ambassadors to neighboring countries or established marriage relations with neighboring countries or made a covenant. It helped strengthen economic and cultural exchanges between the Tubo and neighboring ethnic groups and promote the prosperity of the Tubo society. Therefore, the Potala Palace became the unified political center of the Tubo dynasty and had a very prominent position.

After more than 1300 years of history, the Potala Palace formed a giant fortress with many functions. It covers an area of 400,000 square meters, with a construction area of 130,000 square meters, and the main building, the Red Palace, is 115.703 meters high. It has many representative buildings, such as palaces, lingta halls, great halls, Buddha halls, sutra halls, offices of important functions, eunuch schools, dormitories, courtyards and cloisters. Inside the palace, there are 8 Dalai Lama golden pagodas, 5 exquisite three-dimensional altar cities, as well as porcelain, gold, silver and bronze, Buddha statues, stupas, thangkas, costumes and other kinds of cultural relics of about 70,000 pieces, and more than 60,000 volumes of ancient records. These make the Potala Palace a veritable treasure of cultural relics, receiving much attention from people all over the world, and how it becameknown as the Pearl of the Roof of the World.

Official Website: www.potalapalace.cn