Castle Art of Tibetan Palace Architecture

Yumbulakang Palace in Lhoka Prefecture is the earliest palace in Tibetan history. It is several tens meters high and its magnificent appearance looks like a part of the cliff. Its walls are laid with stones while its roof is of earth and wooden structure.

• Be shocked by the incredible scenery of Yumbulagang Palace

It looks down a plain on the hill of the cliff, which is said to be the first plot of farmland in Tibet. From the cliff feet there is a stone stairs leading to the palace, which makes it easy to defense. The Yumbulakang Palace is a typical fortress-like architecture, manifesting supremacy of the scepter.

Songtsen Gampo built the earlier stage of Potala Palace when he unified the tribes distributed on the Tibetan Plateau and established the Tubo Kingdom in 7th century A.C. The earlier stage of Potala Palace was also castle featured architecture.

The original 9-storey building was surrounded by fence with 4 gates in all directions. In front of each gate, there was a memorial arch decorated by streamers made of yak tails or silk tassels. It is said there were 1,000 chambers, including the royal office and residence parts.

On the roof of the palace, there erected all kinds of weapons such as spears and knives and hang with silk tassels. Outside the east gate, there was a huge exercise field for the tsanpo to do horse riding. The building was sturdy and un-destroyable.

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