Potala Palace has Red Palace and White House. The red palace is made of lime-red grass plants and adhesives, so there is a dazzling red on the palace wall. The red wall is made up of red grass and white grass. White grass is a kind of willow branches. It is dried in autumn, then peeled, tied into fist-sized bundles with cowhide ropes, neatly stacked together, compacted layer by layer, fixed with wooden nails and dyed red ochre. This kind of coating is widely used in exterior walls.
The white wall, also known as the milk wall, is painted with traditional glutinous rice juice pigments and pigments made of milk and lime, which will show a good white color the year before, and look like a pure white cloud from a distance, full of holy light.
Architectural significance of Potala Palace
The special wall of Potala Palace is not only firm and dry, but also breathable and relatively light in weight, which is one of the reasons why Potala Palace has stood on the red mountain for hundreds of years. It has a solemn decorative effect. In Tibetan areas, white walls and red walls can be seen everywhere in palaces, temples and Tibetan houses, and narrow alleys are clean, beautiful, pure and holy under the sunshine of the plateau.
The three essences of Tibetan architecture-Milk Wall, Agatu and Baimacao-can be seen everywhere in Tibetan areas, especially the Potala Palace, which represents the traditional classics and brilliance of Tibetan architecture. This red ochre white grass wall has also become one of the symbols of social class in Tibet, which can only be used by aristocratic families or temples.