The Potala Palace: Remembering to Forget in Contemporary Tibet

The Potala Palace, an iconic Tibetan structure, has undergone a significant transformation from its role as the residence of the Dalai Lamas and the administrative heart of Tibetan Buddhism to becoming a symbol of state-led 'organised forgetting' under Chinese rule. Unlike the Taj Mahal, which commemorates the absent through deliberate design, the Potala's monumental status emerged post-1959 after the 14th Dalai Lama's exile, making it a painful reminder of his absence for many Tibetans. This study argues that contemporary monumentalisation in Tibet serves a state agenda rather than memory, contrasting the palace's immovability with the Dalai Lama's global mobility as a symbol of the Tibetan cause.

Harris, C. (2013). The Potala Palace: Remembering to Forget in Contemporary Tibet. South Asian Studies, 29(1), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2013.772816