Some people say that in your lifetime, you must go to Tibet once and see the last pure land in the world, and the pure land mentioned here is the Potala Palace. As a landmark in Tibet, the Potala Palace is both a tourist attraction and a sacred site for Tibetan Buddhism. But although for Tibetan Buddhist believers, the Potala Palace is a lifelong shrine of faith, for us ordinary people, the Potala Palace is more like a place shrouded in mystery, because there are still many unsolved mysteries that haunt us.
However, before talking about the mystery of the Potala Palace, let's first understand the Potala Palace. The Potala Palace belongs to the Tibetan-style palace-fortress architecture, and is one of the most famous ancient buildings in China, which has been included in the World Cultural Heritage List. We all know that the Potala Palace began in the 7th century AD, but it is shocking that it has been preserved so completely.
The Potala Palace is located on mount Murburi in the center of Lhasa, according to the "Zizhi Tongjian", it was built by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo for Princess Wencheng who married Tibet far away, but some people have also considered that according to the year of the construction of the Potala Palace, Princess Wencheng was only 6 years old at the time, which is obviously unlikely. However, it is certain that the early Potala Palace was indeed built by Songtsen Gampo, and it was also built more than 1300 years ago, when Songtsan Gampo built a grand palace on the Red Mountain of Lhasa today, but it was called the Red Mountain Palace, but it was also the original Potala Palace. Unfortunately, however, the Tubo Dynasty was later caught up in a series of complex social contradictions, and the Red Mountain Palace only existed for 200 years before it collapsed and was destroyed. It was not until the 17th century, that is, in 1642, that the Potala Palace was reborn and rebuilt, which lasted for several years, cost more than 3 million taels of silver, and used more than 7,000 manpower at the same time at the peak. Later, after the founding of New China, the state also attached importance to this "museum of Tibetan history", repeatedly allocated funds for maintenance, and even allocated huge sums of money for large-scale maintenance in 1988, so there is now a majestic and magnificent Potala Palace.
But I have to say that as the world's highest altitude ancient palace, the existence of the Potala Palace is really beyond the imagination of ordinary people, modern people can not imagine, how the ancients built this majestic palace on the mountain at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. And the Potala Palace itself is also more than 200 meters high, the appearance is like a 13-storey building, but in fact, the Potala Palace is only 9 floors, but it is not so much a building, more like a palace embedded in the hill. How did the ancients do it? It's hard to give an answer!
The Potala Palace is mainly divided into two parts, the Red Palace and the White House, but it is not a left and right structure, but the Red Palace is centered, and the White House is distributed on both sides. The unique status of the Red Palace can also be seen from the structure of the building, which is an important place for religious ceremonies and worship of gods and Buddhas, and is also the place where the relics of the Dalai Lama in the past are placed. The surrounding White House is the site of Lai Lama's life and political activity.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the long history that many legends have gradually spread about the Potala Palace, and there are three unsolved mysteries, which are still widely discussed.
One is the unclear number of rooms in the Potala Palace. Potala Palace is precisely a palace-type building complex, group buildings are typical of the huge and complex, as a palace, potala palace alone covers an area of 130,000 square meters, to know that the construction area of the Forbidden City is only 150,000 square meters, and its overall area is as high as 360,000 square meters. Therefore, one of the biggest features of the Potala Palace is its huge size and the large number of rooms. But some people may say that there are doubts, no matter how wide the area is, no matter how many rooms there are, it is impossible to have the problem of counting the rooms, the Forbidden City, which is larger than it, the number of large and small palaces and houses is not also clear. But the fact is that the number of rooms in the Potala Palace is indeed unclear, and it is strange that every time the people who have passed through the rooms of the Potala Palace, the numbers spoken are different, not only different but also very large, some people say that there are 999 rooms, some people say that there are tens of thousands, and even the middle number is not enough. Why is this so?
In fact, there are two reasons, on the one hand, according to the original Potala Palace, the rooms built at that time were indeed 999, plus the practice room of Songtsen Gampo, a total of 1000 rooms, such a statement has been documented, but it refers to the Potala Palace first built in the 7th century AD. As we mentioned earlier, the early Potala Palace was destroyed, and a large part of it was destroyed by war. The Potala Palace that we see now was built after the 17th century, and has undergone the expansion of successive Dalai Lamas and the maintenance of state funds. Obviously, the number of 1,000 rooms is not accurate, but it is precisely because of repeated construction that the number of rooms has become a mystery, why so, this is related to the second reason.
On the other hand, the Potala Palace belongs to the Tibetan architecture, and the Tibetan building is calculated by the number of rooms according to the columns, because the columns in the Tibetan building have a very special role, and the room space is basically partitioned by the columns longitudinally, for example, the area between the four pillars is a "void", and this "empty" is similar to the meaning of a room. However, the Potala Palace has undergone several repairs, there are many pillars, and there have been old craftsmen who have tried to check them one by one, but the internal pillars of the Potala Palace have been countless, and the internal structure still exists in the suites, compartments, and even complex room types between the suites and compartments, which cannot be calculated by common sense. Those who once wanted to challenge the number of rooms in the Potala Palace were all in vain.
The second Potala Palace also has a puzzle, why it has been rock-solid for many years, known as the strongest and most complete preservation of the ancient architectural palace complex in history. You must know that even after undergoing internal repairs, the Potala Palace has really experienced more than 1300 years of ups and downs, but it still stands on the top of the peak, how did it do it?
This has to talk about the wisdom of the ancients, the Potala Palace has a solid foundation, and the underground that we can't see is a thick ridge wall built by craftsmen with ashlar blocks, and it is not a small number, but an endless ridge wall, because it has supported the Potala Palace for thousands of years. Secondly, the Potala Palace is a very strong mixed stone and wood structure, and its unassuming wall is actually the hardest granite used, and when it is built, the craftsmen also pour iron juice between the walls, and the "white horse grass" is used in the wall, which not only reduces the weight of the wall, but also avoids the effect of insect moths. In addition, the walls of the Potala Palace are even 5 meters thickest! And it's getting thicker and thicker the further down.
The third is also the most mysterious point of the Potala Palace, it is rumored that there are eight floors of the underground palace under the Potala Palace, some people say that there are countless treasures and historical relics buried in it, and some people say that there is a secret passage to the center of the earth under the underground palace, and the entrance to the tunnel is guarded by the Dalai Lama.
Such a legend is believed not only by the Chinese people, but also by westerners, who also believe that the Potala Palace in Tibet is the source of mysterious power. For example, during World War II, Hitler secretly sent people to the Brada Palace, and twice before and after. In addition, there is the Soviet Union, after the founding of New China, the Soviet Union has also sent experts to explore the Potala Palace five times, the intention of both is the same, pointing directly to the underground of the Potala Palace, for which it will spend a lot of manpower and material resources, which has the intention of spying on the underground treasures of the Potala Palace, but there is also another legend.
There is an old legend in Tibet that there is a secret passage under the Potala Palace that can lead to the underground world - Shambhala, which is also called Shangri-La, but not the Shangri-La of Yunnan. According to legend, Shambhala is a well-known holy place for mankind, located in northern Tibet, round, shaped like an eight-petal lotus flower, surrounded by double-layered snow-capped mountains, in which the night is like day, and the number of gold and silver jewels is endless, which is desirable. Such a legend has been passed down to this day, but one of the important reasons is that Shambhala is the pure land of the beliefs of Tibetan Buddhist believers, because in Tibetan Buddhism, the belief of Shambhala is an important religious core, a pure land of beauty, clarity, tranquility and harmony. Believers also believe that the entrance to Shambhala is beneath the Potala Palace.
But later, the official used modern technology to scan more than 4,000 points of the Potala Palace and used a computer to draw a panoramic map of the Potala Palace. Originally, their purpose was only to be able to better and more scientifically interpret the Tibetan palace complex of the Potala Palace, so as to carry out its maintenance. However, it is also under the science and technology that the veil of the "mysterious underground palace" of the Potala Palace was lifted.
Experts explain that in fact, the so-called "mysterious underground palace" refers to the foundation of the Potala Palace, which can also be called "ridge" or even the foundation. When I mentioned earlier why the Potala Palace is so strong, its underground ridge wall is indispensable, and the ridge wall is the true face of the "mysterious underground palace". One might question, isn't the dungeon eight stories? The ridge wall is actually the same, perhaps more than that, and the number of ridges that have been proven is more than 1,200, but the brada staff have reason to believe that this is not all. In fact, after the advent of the ridge wall, people will find that the underground palace is indeed not feasible, because although there are many layers under the Potala Palace, they are dense, and the only remaining gaps are not enough for one person to pass. However, the role of the ridge wall is undeniable, after year after year of exploration, experts found that it is these countless ridges that bear the entire weight of the Potala Palace, and the safety of the ridge is also related to the safety of the entire ancient building complex, so the protection of the ridge wall is particularly important.
And it is said that during the first phase of the repair of the Potala Palace, many things were indeed found under the Potala Palace, that is, in the ridge, but it was not a treasure, but a large amount of garbage. According to the staff's recollection, when cleaning up the Brada Palace, the garbage removed was pulled by a truck carrying a 5-ton truck, which was more than 10 trucks, although not all of them were ridged, but a large part of it was. Basically because of the years of wall weathering residue and the contribution of some small animals, the garbage in the ridge is really garbage.
But in the end, although there is no mysterious dungeon in the Potala Palace, it is still one of the most worthwhile places to visit in life! Do you know any other legends about the Potala Palace? Welcome to leave a message and discuss with us, more wonderful remember to pay attention to us yo.