In Tibet, there was a kind of government
structure called "Zong Shan". "Zong" means a local Tibetan administrative unit,
equivalent to a county in interior areas. The government center of a "Zong" was
mostly constructed on the hill, thus becoming a castle called "Zong Shan".
Lhasa's Potala Palace, the greatest building in Tibet, is both the highest "Zong Shan" and
the temple of the gods of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Potala Palace, built on the Potala Hill (Red Hill),
is an extremely magnificent castle, the only example in ancient China and a masterpiece rare even in world
architectural history. In outward appearance, the 13-storey building is about
119 meters high, and covers an area of 100,000 square meters. Work to construct
the Potala Palace began in 7th century of the Tang
Dynasty (618-907) in honor of the Tang Princess Wenchen who was sent to marry
Zhanpu King of Tufen Kingdom in Tibet, but was
later destroyed in war. The present
Potala Palace was rebuilt in
the 2nd year (1645) of the rule of Qing Emperor Shizu, around the
time when the fifth Dalai Lama went to Beijing to have an audience with him. It took
50 years to complete.
The outer walls of the central part of the
Potala Palace are painted red, earning it the name
of the Red Palace. Inside is the stupa hall containing
stupa for the Dalai Lamas of all ages, as well as Buddhist halls. The east and
west of the Red Palace are linked to the east and west White
Palaces. The east White
Palace holds the living area of
the Dalai Lamas, while the west White Palace serves as
monks' living rooms. Extending forward from the lower part of the Red Palace is a white terrace linking the east
and west White Palaces, inside which are various warehouses.
The Red Palace is the highest and the
largest. In the middle, there is a concave balcony belt running through the
upper and lower parts, along with many gilded copper-tile roofed small halls on
the flat-top, which enrich the composition of the whole palace and naturally
become the composition center commanding the whole situation. A dark brown wall
belt runs horizontally on the upper end of the whole palace, making the outline
of the structure more distinct, echoing the Red Palace in color. Below the dark brown wall
belt of the Red Palace is a white wall belt echoing the wall
surface of the White
Palace. The structure is in
tacit agreement with the chevron. The middle part of the front edge, set back a
bit along with the hill, is the highest point of the structure right at the peak
of the hill. The outer wall is inlaid with stones, its surface clearly inclined
and appearing natural and steady. All these are close to the composition texture
of natural hill stones. There is no distinct demarcation between the footing of
the structures and the hill, man's work and nature being in harmony and tacit
agreement.
Two rows of blank windows are added to the
stone walls in the lower part, under which there is a 20-meter-high wall surface
that exaggerates the height of the structure. On the dark brown wall belt there
are many gilded copper plates. The chin-chuang, golden treasure bottles, and
golden lotus on top of the wall extend into the sky and, together with the
gilded roof, glow with charming radiance under the foil of the blue sky, white
clouds and snow-clad mountain. From the bottom up, the way of treatment moves
from coarse to fine, from simple to complex, from solid to charming and from
monotonous to rich; the color goes from plain to colorful. Together, this
naturally diverts people's sight line to the heights, making the structure
loftier and more imposing.
The majestic, brilliant, magnificent and
uninhibited Potala Palace has a strong artistic appeal and is an
architectural art treasure that can be shown off to the world.