Preserving the Potala Palace

Devoting efforts

According to the palace's renovation department, the first large-scale repairs of the Potala Palace were made from 1989 to 1994, and they primarily addressed the structural risks of the palace.

The second phase of repairs took place between 2002 and 2009.

More than 200 million yuan ($28 million) was invested by the central government. The money mainly covered repairs of the palace's body and sleeper walls, restoration of its murals, and environmental improvements in its Shol Courtyard.

"In recent years, the palace has received a great deal of attention from the State relics protection experts with renovation work mainly involving seven golden roofs," says Dawa Ngodrub, an official of the renovation department, adding that in 2018, the outbuilding of the Shol Courtyard was renovated, costing more than 30 million yuan.

"We do a routine inspection of the Potala Palace every day, the job is the same year after year," he says.

Local government made numerous efforts and achieved wonderful results in repairing this ancient building. With many tourists visiting the palace every day, there are monitors to gauge the pressure of the footfall to protect the ancient structure from damage.

Lhundrub, another official from the Potala Palace Management Office, says they use a management model for tourist receptions that includes a reservation system, visitor flow control and staggered peak hours.

"The carrying capacity of the ancient building is limited. To better protect the Potala Palace, we have implemented a crowd-control management model," says Lhundrub, adding that tourists or pilgrims tend to concentrate in certain areas, and security personnel are equipped to divert crowds at any time based on monitoring videos and structural detection data.