The 13-story, 117-meter high Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet is a wonder of Tibetan architecture high in the mountains. King Songsten Gampo first built the palace on the hill representing the bodhisattva Chenresig in 637 AD. In 1645 the fifth Dalai Lama began construction on the Potrang Karpo (White Palace) of the Potala Palace, which was completed in 1694 and was the living place of the fifth through thirteenth Dalai Lamas. The Potrang Marpo (Red Palace,) added from 1690 to 1694, is the site of religious study and the location of the tombs of past Dalai Lamas. Following the failed uprising of 1959, the fourteenth Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India in 1959. Potala Palace is currently a museum and to preserve its structural integrity, visitors are limited to 2,500 per day.
