Potala Palace, Tibet

The palace is located at an altitude of 3700 meters on Marpo Ri (Red Hill) on a hill towering in the middle of the Lhasa Valley in Tibet. The first building on the site of the palace was built by order of the King of Tibet Songtsen Gampo in 637. It was in the permanent place of the king's meditation. He later moved his capital to Lhasa and built the first palace on the mountain. But until the present, only the Fa-Wana cave and the Pabalakan hall have survived.
The palace took on its present appearance in 1645 at the initiative of the Dalai Lama V. Today, the Potala Palace is a museum actively visited by tourists, remaining a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists and continuing to be used in Buddhist rituals. In 1994, due to its enormous cultural, religious, artistic and historical significance, the palace complex was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.