SUNDAY'S SPECIAL SPOT - TIBET

I apologize for not posting a picture last Sunday. I was otherwise engaged and time got away from me. I do hope that this week's photo will make up for it.

Many a castle, palace and other remarkable architecture, especially those long-standing ones, I find to be of great visual interest. In the not-so-distant future, I will make a pilgrimage to many of those well-worn sites and observe them with my own eyes; admiring the colours, textures, lines and beauty they exude. For now, I hope, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Potola Palace, found in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China sits majestically upon Marpo Ri ("The Red Hill").  A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Potola Palace was the winter palace of the Dalai Lama from the 7th century until 1959, when the current Dalai Lama fled after an ineffective uprising.



Built strong and fortress-like, Potola Palace houses over 1000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and 200,000 thousand statues.  During the Cultural Revolution of China (1966 - 77) much of the palace was, sadly, vandalized and  looted by Chinese soldiers. Today, the Chinese government runs the palace as a museum and it is visited by numerous tourists yearly.

This photo is from Flickr. It was taken and is owned by Watchsmart.