The Potala Palace

THE POTALA PALACE (Lhasa, Tibet)

Home to Dalai Lamas 1649-1959 (now a museum), this 13-story symbol of Tibetan Buddhism in the Lhasa Valley stands on a site used for this purpose since 637. Its namesake, Mount Potalaka, is the mythical abode of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, of whom the Dalai Lama is believed to be a reincarnation. It has over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, and about 200,000 statues.

(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)