The white and red palace
Lhasa
The Potala Palace rises in white and dark red above the city; gilded roofs and prayer flags surround it.
Why Lhasa is potala red
Lhasa, at about 3,650 metres, is the historic centre of Tibetan Buddhism. The Potala Palace, begun in its present form in 1645 under the fifth Dalai Lama, covers a hill above the city. It has two parts. The White Palace held living quarters and offices. The Red Palace, at the centre, holds chapels and the tombs of past Dalai Lamas. Its walls are whitewashed and repainted each year, traditionally with lime mixed with milk and sugar. In the old town the Jokhang temple has gilded roofs, and pilgrims walk the Barkhor circuit around it. Monks wear maroon. Strings of prayer flags in blue, white, red, green and yellow cross the rooftops under a very clear sky.
Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.
Colours tied to Lhasa
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Lhasa" on Wikipedia. If you know Lhasa and we have it wrong, tell us.
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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Shekhawati In: Digrajsingh, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kutch In: Zeel Satyendra Modi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kanchipuram In: Ssriram mt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Auroville In: Kaspar Konrad, Public domain, source
- Beijing Cn: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Zhangye Danxia Cn: YubYub41, CC BY-SA 4.0, source