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Perched atop Marpo Ri (Red Mountain), and named after Riwo Potala in India, holy mountain of the god Chenresi, the Potala Palace is dazzling both inside and out and an enduring landmark of the city of Lhasa. As you glory in the views from the roof, gaze at the glittering array of gold and jewels and wend your way from chapel to chapel, you'll rub shoulders with excited and awestruck pilgrims from all over ethnic Tibet making offerings at each of the altars. Rising thirteen dramatic storeys and consisting of over a thousand rooms, the palace took a work force of at least seven thousand builders and fifteen hundred artists and craftsmen over fifty years to complete. However, don't tackle it on your first day at altitude, it's a long climb, and even the Tibetans huff and puff on the way up - you'll enjoy it more when you're acclimatized. There's a huge amount to take in on one visit and a second look helps to put it in perspective.

Official opening hours are daily from 9-11.30am and 3.30-6pm, and the entrance fee is Y40. However, the palace's hours are a source of major confusion as they seem to change frequently, so check with other travellers before you set off. At the time of writing, the palace was open to all in the morning, with a tour leaving in the afternoon. Morning is certainly the best time to come, when the place bustles with excited pilgrims; in the afternoon a few foreigners are shown around on a (loosely) guided tour that leaves at 3.30pm. The policy on photography also varies: some visitors report a hefty Y50 charge, others find that only photography inside the chapels is banned. However, there seems to be little problem with taking pictures on the roof or on the balconies outside the chapels with the sunlight slanting down evocatively onto fabulously decorated woodwork.

Built for several purposes, the Potala served as administrative centre, seat of government, monastery, fortress and the home of all the Dalai Lamas from the Fifth to the Fourteenth, although from the end of the eighteenth century, when the Norbulingka was built as the summer palace, they stayed here only in winter. The main mass of the Potala is the White Palace (Potrang Karpo), while the central building

rising from the centre of this is the Red Palace (Potrang Marpo).

The Potala has a long history. King Songtsen Gampo built the first palace on this site in the seventh century, but it was later destroyed by invaders. Today's White Palace (1645-1648) was built during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama and he took up residence in 1649, while the Red Palace was completed in 1693. Both survived the Cultural Revolution relatively unscathed; apparently Zhou Enlai ordered their protection

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