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SCMP Reporter

The Potala Palace, witness to the rise and fall of many dynasties, is in urgent need of repair.

Sitting atop a hill in the heart of Lhasa, the building was the home of dalai lamas since it was built in 1645 by the fifth dalai lama and used as his winter palace.

Key parts of the building were restored from 1989 to 1994 but the building - once the centre of political and religious activities in Tibet - is crumbling again. A large tract of wall collapsed after heavy rain last month.

Officials admit other sections of the palace also need restoration work.

The Potala is perhaps one of the world's biggest treasure houses. Its collection totals more than 70,000 relics, many of which are considered invaluable by Buddhists and international art collectors.

The Potala is divided into the White and Red palaces. The former was the living quarters of the dalai lamas, while the Red Palace housed the stupa-tombs of eight dalai lamas and many chapels. The Red Palace also holds thousands of treasures such as tapestries, Buddhist statues and mandalas.

The director of the Administrative Department of the Potala Palace, Qiangba Gesang, said the main duties of the palace's 69 lamas were to look after the building and its contents and take part in Buddhist rituals.

'We have two priorities in our work. One is the danger of fire and the other is theft,' he said. 'We only carry out our other responsibilities after our safety against these two is guaranteed.'

Since the Potala Palace is predominately a wooden building, it has - like many other ancient architects - fallen prey to nature and human, and Mr Gesang said another threat was mice. 'There are naturally numerous holes. There are also so many stupa-tombs. Mice just love such an environment,' he said.

The Potala has modern surveillance equipment to prevent theft and fire. But it has no flushing toilets, most rooms are dimly lit and its passages and stairs are narrow and dark - a paradise for mice.

As devout Buddhists are forbidden to kill any creature, Mr Gesang said it was difficult to fight rodents. 'We have to hire people from outside to get rid of the mice,' he said.

The hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and tourists who visit the Potala Palace every year also take a toll. Humidity - from visitors' body heat and breath - puts many treasures at risk.

Potala Palace had 220,000 visitors last year and 190,000 by the end of July this year. During peak months, such as August, up to 5,000 come each day. 'We are actively looking at ways to limit the flow of visitors,' Mr Gesang said. Tibetan pilgrims pay two yuan (HK$1.88) to visit, while tourists are charged 70 yuan.

The Potala Palace earned about 5.3 million yuan from ticket sales last year. Mr Gesang said sales were sufficient to maintain palace expenses such as lamas' wages but restoration would require extra funding.

The deputy director of Tibet's Bureau of Cultural Relics, Phuntsok Namgyal, said global warming also posed problems for historical sites.

Many relics in Tibet have survived for centuries because of the arid and dry climate. They would be at risk if the temperatures and humidity continued to rise, he said.

Experts from Beijing and Gansu's Dunhuang have been brought in to preserve treasures such as murals.

Both officials said preservation of Tibetan relics had reached a critical stage, but said the Chinese Government was determined to support the cause.

But a lack of trained staff has hampered preservation. Government figures say Tibet has more than 1,700 monasteries but only 270 cadres responsible for protecting their relics. Of the 1,000 monasteries certified as historic sites, only a few are equipped with modern anti-theft equipment.

Mr Namgyal said the budget for relic protection for Tibet in the next five years could total more than 300 million yuan and the second phase of restoration of the Potala Palace alone would cost about 170 million yuan.

The second phase includes a plan to display some relics and provide facilities to enable scholars to study them.



Palace crumbles as fight to preserve relics turns critical