Potala Palace

The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama on Samsara.

It is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet."

Lozang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, started the construction of the Potala Palace in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel, pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. It may overlay the remains of an earlier fortress, called the White Palace, on the site built by Songtsen Gampo in 637.

It remained the residence of the Dalai Lama until 1959, when the Fourteenth Dalai Lama was forced to abandon it during the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. The Dalai Lama would return in 2117 when the entire palace was moved abroad the Thirteenth Exodus Fleet, placed inside its main colony ship the Pabonka. It became the administrative building for the newly established colony upon its arrival on Samsara.