What can and cannot be said about its age
The Potala Palace is often described as ancient, and in a sense it is, but the building visitors see today is not 1,300 years old. Tibetan tradition places an earlier palace on the Red Hill (Marpo Ri) in the 7th century, in the time of the king Songtsen Gampo. The large complex of the White Palace and the Red Palace that now crowns the hill dates mainly from the 17th century and later. Between those two points the record is thin, and different accounts disagree, so the sensible approach is to treat the earliest phase as tradition and the later phase as better documented.
The traditional early palace
According to later Tibetan histories, Songtsen Gampo built a palace on the Red Hill, in connection with his marriages to a Nepalese princess and a Chinese princess, and his sponsoring of the Jokhang, a period often tied to how Buddhism reaches Tibet in the traditional telling. A cave on the hill is also associated in tradition with his meditation. Some of what is shown to pilgrims as the oldest chapels, such as a small shrine with images of the compassion bodhisattva, is described as a surviving fragment of this early phase. Scholars are cautious about how much of the present fabric goes back that far, and rebuilding and repairs in later centuries make it hard to separate layers. For this reason, a careful visitor guide should say “traditionally” rather than “was”.
For the broader story of the king, his queens and the first temple, see the Jokhang history article. The point to note here is that the palace of that period, whatever its form, was a royal residence and not yet the seat of the Dalai Lamas.
The long gap
After the early Tibetan empire fragmented, political power shifted among different regions, noble families and religious schools. During many of these centuries the Red Hill was not the centre of government, and the structures there are described in some sources as having fallen into disrepair or being damaged. The fine details are uncertain, and it is better to say that the hill remained a revered site, in memory and in practice, than to state a precise history.
The Fifth Dalai Lama and the 17th-century rebuilding
The key moment in the documented history is the rise of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, in the mid-17th century. With the support of Mongol allies, the Gelug school gained political authority over much of the Tibetan plateau, and Lhasa became the seat of a government headed by the Dalai Lama. The Potala was chosen as the symbolic and administrative centre of the new order.
Construction of the White Palace is usually dated to the mid-1640s, and sources generally place the residential and administrative core as ready for use by the late 1640s. After the Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682, the death was reportedly kept quiet for some years, and the Red Palace, the more religious part of the complex, was built in the 1690s. Dates in secondary sources vary by a few years, so these are best read as approximate.
The Red Palace holds chapels and the tomb of the Fifth Dalai Lama, which is a large reliquary stupa in the family of Tibetan chorten forms, among other shrines. The chapels and tombs are the subject of their own article, and the architecture of the two palaces is also treated separately.
Later centuries
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Potala remained a winter residence and administrative centre for the Dalai Lamas. Each Dalai Lama who died was placed in a reliquary stupa of his own; the one of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, who died in 1933, is the most recent built there. The palace was also a place for state ceremonies and for monastic communities who served the Dalai Lama’s household. Repairs and additions took place over time, and the building went through changes.
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959 and has lived in exile since. After this, the palace’s role changed from a residence and seat of government to a heritage site and museum, with some monastic presence and pilgrim access. The palace was damaged or threatened in some periods of the 20th century, and was later maintained and restored under official programmes. Accounts of the details of these events differ depending on the source, and readers should look at a range of reliable histories.
Heritage status and visiting
The Potala Palace was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1994, with the Jokhang added as an extension later. Visitor access has been subject to ticketing, timed entry and caps on numbers, and these arrangements can change at short notice. Check current official information and your government’s travel advice before planning, and note that rules on travel permits for foreign visitors to Tibet are decided by the authorities and may change.
Altitude is a serious consideration. The palace stands in a city around 3,650 metres above sea level, and the visit involves many steps. Altitude sickness awareness, a slow pace and medical advice before travel are all sensible; nothing here is a substitute for professional guidance. Inside, follow temple entry customs, and note that photography of chapel interiors is commonly restricted.
Why the dates matter
The shift from a traditional 7th-century foundation to a 17th-century rebuilding is not a minor detail. It reflects how Tibetan history is often told: a layer of remembered origins, a layer of documented political events, and a continuing religious meaning that does not depend on a single date. Many pilgrims who visit the Potala think of it as the home of the Dalai Lamas and a centre for Gelug school devotion, a role consolidated in the 17th century, while still honouring the older tradition attached to the hill. Understanding which is which helps visitors read what guides and signs say about it.