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Named after Mount Potala, the Potala Palace is one of the most beautiful and imposing sights in Lhasa. It was used as the chief residence of the current Dalai Lama until the time that the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India due to the failed uprising in 1959. Today, the palace is a museum.

The design of the Potala Palace has an ingenious feature. Copper was poured at its foundation to help protect it from earthquakes. It measures four hundred meters by three hundred fifty meters and has a total of thirteen levels. The palace has a thousand rooms, ten thousand shrines and more than two hundred thousand statues. Built on the Red Hill, the Potala Palace stands a total of 501 meters.

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