Ramoche Monastery

Ramoche Monastery, situated in the northwest of Lhasa, is the sister temple to Jokhang Temple. This Monastery is one of the key cultural relic protection sites of the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as a hot attraction in Lhasa.

Ramoche Monastery, covering a total area of 4000 square meters, was originally built in the 7th century when Princess Wencheng married King Songsten Gampo. The original building has a strong Tang architecture influence and later rebuilt in the 15th Century in a more Chinese style. The main building in the monastery has three stories, in which there are ten pillars holding some of the remaining Tibetan relics such as the encased lotus flowers, coiling cloud, jewelry, and particular Tibetan Characters. The principal image here is of Jowo Sakyamuni at 8 years old. Carried into Tibet by the Nepalese Chizun Princess, this figure is regarded as the greatest saint in Ramoche Monastery.

Nowadays, the monastery has become the very place for the Tibetan monks to study the Mi Zong (one of the sect of Buddhism).

The present Potala Palace is 117 meters height with 13 floors and contains 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and 200,000 statues. It is composed of the White Palace and Red Palaces, with the red one in the middle. The White Palace is a seven-floor building originally built in 1645. The entire building is made of stone and wood and covers an area of 130,000 square meters. It was both the residence of the current Dalai Lama and tomb of the former. The Red Palace was built in 1690 after the death of the Fifth Dailai Lama, which once served as the religious areas of the palace. Beautiful murals painted on inner walls described the glory and power of the Fifth Dalai Lama, One of the most famous describing the Fifth Dalai Lama's visit to Emperor Shunzhi in Beijing in1652.

For more than 300 years, Potala Palace has treasured many culture relics such as murals, stupas, statues, thangkas, and rare sutras. In December of 1994, it was listed as UNESCOs World Heritage sites.