The Ancients
Tibet
Views of the Potala
Lhasa, Tibet
...
...
Courtesy of Wellesley College
...
Courtesy of  Heinrich Harrer - National Geographic
The Potala, fortress of Tibet's god-king, broods over the flooded Kyi Valley. Nearing Tibet's capital, Mr. Harrer passed these groves of poplars and willows, transplanted like all other trees in the deforested Kyi Valley. Above him loomed the Dalai Lama's 300-year-old palace that Tibetans believe was created by spirits. Fearfully the author approached an archway in the center tomb. He felt sure guards would seize him or turn him back; instead he found only beggars standing vigil at the sacred portal.
...
Courtesy of kaliteliresimler.com/
...
Courtesy of wallpapers.free-review.net
...
Courtesy of National Geographic - Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie
Prayer flags stretch toward the Potala Palace, which is perched on Red Mountain in Tibet's Lhasa Valley. The former winter home of the Dalai Lama has symbolized Tibetan Buddhism since the 7th century.
...
Courtesy of  Mads Mathiasen
...
Courtesy of  Gonggar, the Photo Gallery
...
Courtesy of  Gonggar, the Photo Gallery
...
Courtesy of onwardtibet.org
The White Palace of Potala in Tibet
..
Dalai Lama's Reception Chamber
..
 
The Potala palace in Lhasa, Tibet, as seen and depicted by the Austrian Jesuit Johann Grueber,
who had been there in 1651. Cut from the book China Illustrata of Athanasius Kircher (1667).

Related Links:

Tibetan Exile Sources Papers
 
The Potala circ 1960

Its not built onto the hill, though the earth surrounds it, but on a 272ft thick base, carved into the hollow of the hill. Its the biggest stone foundations in the world (the 384ft palace size is only calculated from where the massive windows start). Basically without the technology of steel frames you would have to build foundations almost as tall as the building sitting on top of it for that kind of weight.

Counting only the building areas built on the base (as opposed to those sitting on the hilltop, to the left of the red palace), the shortest measurements are still 567ft, the tallest 656ft.

Bear in mind the scale of the photo below, and the large size of the windows - from the base of the hill, where the people are standing to the roof of the palace is 1000ft.

SOURCE: Posted by muppet 08-14-2009 SkyscraperPage Forum
 

The Potala Today
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Pegasus Research Consortium distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
~ MENU ~

 

Webpages  © 2001-2015
Blue Knight Productions