Unveiling the Millennial Secrets of the Potala Palace

The Potala Palace, a sacred site of Tibetan Buddhism (Gelug school), attracts countless pilgrims and tourists each year.

Originally built during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, the 32nd ruler of the Tubo Dynasty (7th century AD), it was initially called the “Red Mountain Palace.” In the 17th century, the Fifth Dalai Lama reconstructed a magnificent palace on the site of the old Red Mountain Palace, which was then named “Potala Palace.” Since then, it has served as the political and religious center of Tibet. Having stood atop Maburi Mountain for thousands of years, this imposing structure still holds some unsolved mysteries.

For centuries, this mysterious palace has sparked numerous questions. How could it have stood for a millennium despite the relatively scarce resources and undeveloped technology at the time of its construction? Is there a secret underground palace concealing countless treasures? Why is such a sacred place filled with so much garbage? How many rooms does the Potala Palace actually have, and is it really just 999 as the legend suggests? Today, we will explore these mysteries one by one.

Why is the Potala Palace So Stable?

The main building of the majestic Potala Palace is 13 stories high, standing over 170 meters tall. Built from countless stones, this palace has stood firm against wind and rain for thousands of years.

Given its height, size, and age, how has the Potala Palace managed to remain so stable?

Firstly, a solid foundation ensures the palace’s safety. Thick retaining walls built from stone blocks provide the Potala Palace with a robust base. This construction has kept the palace stable for over 1300 years.

Built on Red Mountain, the wall foundations of the Potala Palace extend deep into the bedrock, reaching a thickness of over 5 meters. The walls gradually taper upwards, reducing to a thickness of only about 1 meter at the top. Historical records indicate that molten iron was poured into some wall cavities to ensure the palace’s solidity. Palace staff regularly check for iron fragments in any cracked walls, but none have been found so far.

It is said that the palace’s east wall was built by stonemasons from Lhasa, with sharp corners like axes. The west wall was built by stonemasons from the Shigatse area, who emphasized roundedness. According to legend, if a whole sheep is thrown down the east wall, it would be split in half by the time it reaches the bottom, while an egg thrown down the west wall would remain intact.

The “white-marrow grass” used in the walls of the Potala Palace is resilient, with insulating, ventilating, and insect-resistant properties, which also significantly reduces the weight of the walls. Such meticulous design showcases the ingenious skills of the Tibetan people more than 1300 years ago.

Why is There So Much Garbage in the Potala Palace?

To Buddhist believers, the Potala Palace is sacred and inviolable. Yet, this sacred place has accumulated a lot of garbage. During the first phase of repairs in the 1980s, workers used more than a dozen 5-ton trucks to remove garbage from the palace.

This garbage is old, some even hundreds or thousands of years old. It is mostly found in the ground foundations (地垄) or stored in warehouses. The ground foundation refers to the well-like spaces between the retaining walls built to level the mountainside.

Some construction waste was left in the ground foundations during construction. Since some of these foundations had no practical use, the waste was never removed. Some of the garbage is the result of the weathering of the foundation walls, such as disintegrated clay or decayed rafters.

For religious reasons, people believe that throwing garbage outside would bring bad luck. Therefore, garbage has been stored in the ground foundations for centuries. Tibetans believe that everything in the Potala Palace is sacred, so some garbage is also stored in rarely used warehouses.

The Potala Palace is full of treasures. Over time, no one remembers what’s in these warehouses. Moreover, small, valuable items can easily be mixed with trash. Thus, no one dares to casually throw away the warehouse waste because it could contain a rare treasure.

This concern is not unfounded. During the first cleanup of the Potala Palace, workers carefully sifted through the “antiques” and discovered treasures, including corals, turquoise, and silver coins.

Is There an Underground Palace in the Potala Palace?

Is it true that beneath the Potala Palace lies an underground palace filled with countless treasures and that this palace is an entrance to Shambhala? “Shambhala” is a transliteration of a Tibetan word also translated as “Shangri-La,” meaning “land of bliss.” It is a mythical world in Buddhism and the origin of the Kalachakra teachings.

Legend has it that the underground palace is full of treasures and precious books. The entire palace is said to be a labyrinth.

The Buddhist community believes that Shambhala is a fictional utopia, so the idea of an entrance below the Potala Palace is unfounded. Furthermore, the so-called “underground palace” refers to the ground foundation, which is actually the palace’s base. These spaces are not always connected, and some are very small.

While the Potala Palace does contain treasures, they are not located in an “underground palace.” The palace has a rich collection of historical relics, including numerous murals, stupas, statues, and thangkas. There are also precious scriptures such as the Patra Sutra and the Kanjur Sutra, as well as many gold and silver artifacts, porcelain, enamelware, and jade objects.

However, to outsiders, these treasures only seem to satisfy their imagination when placed in an underground palace, just like in a novel.

How Many Rooms are in the Potala Palace?

The Potala Palace, originally built by Songtsen Gampo in 631 AD (Tibetan Iron Rabbit Year), was said to have 999 rooms, plus 1000 rooms when including the meditation rooms on the mountain. However, after the fall of the Tubo Dynasty, most of the ancient fortress was destroyed in wars. What we see today is the result of expansions made by successive Dalai Lamas after the 17th century. However, the exact number of rooms is still unknown.

More than 20 years ago, during the first phase of repairs, veteran craftsmen tried to count the rooms one by one, but they failed. Because Tibetan architecture counts rooms by the number of pillars, and the structure of the Potala Palace is extremely complex, with suites, compartments, and combinations of both, traditional counting methods are ineffective.

Later, several cultural heritage experts were brought to the palace to try and determine the exact number of rooms, but they also failed. Modern counting methods are not applicable to these buildings. Therefore, the exact number of rooms in the Potala Palace remains unknown.

With the advancement of modern science and technology, many mysteries are being revealed. However, history cannot be completely recreated. Some secrets will remain in the long river of time, becoming eternal mysteries, which is perhaps what makes the magnificent Potala Palace so alluring.