Norbulingka Summer Palace

Norbulingka — the "Jewel Park" — was established by the Seventh Dalai Lama (Kelzang Gyatso) in the 1740s as a summer residence outside the walls of the Potala Palace. The park's lower altitude and broader open space provided the religious ruler with a more comfortable summer working environment than the enclosed palace, and successive Dalai Lamas added palaces and gardens to the complex until it covered a substantial walled precinct west of the city.

The Kelsang Phodrang, the oldest and most architecturally significant of the Norbulingka palaces, was built by the Seventh Dalai Lama in 1755 and later expanded. Its chapels preserve significant 18th-century thangka collections and furniture from the Dalai Lama's working and ceremonial life. The Takten Migyur Phodrang, built by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in the early 20th century, reflects the period of Tibetan modernisation and the influence of an expanded world knowledge on the Lhasa court.

The Chensel Phodrang — the "new palace" — was completed for the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1956, just three years before his exile. The interior is preserved in the condition in which he left it on the night of 17 March 1959, when he disguised himself as a soldier and slipped through the surrounding crowd to begin the journey to India. The palace has a particular historical resonance as a result.

The park itself is the principal public green space for Lhasa residents — families picnic under the old trees, children play in the grassy areas, and during the Shoton Festival, Tibetan opera troupes perform outdoors for large crowds.