Potala Palace, Tibet

The Potala Palace dominates the city of Lhasa from its site atop the Red Mountain (Marpo Ri). It served as a fortress and as the residence of the Dalai Lamas, and so was the center of both political and religious power in Tibet. Today it is the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region and remains an immensely popular pilgrimage site. Divided into White and Red Palaces, the complex rises 110 m (360 ft) high and extends 360 m (1,200 ft) across, and was one of the world¡¯s tallest buildings before the era of modern skyscrapers. Rising thirteen stories and containing over a thousand rooms and some 200,000 images, the palace complex took the work of more than 7,000 laborers and 1,500 artists for more than fifty years to complete. Beneath the fortress are the dungeons where those who ran afoul of the Lamaist theocracy were imprisoned and tortured. In December of 1994, the Potala Place was listed as UNESCO¡¯s World Heritage sites.

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