(TibetanReview.net, Oct19, 2018) – The Chinese government administrators of the Potala Palace in Tibet’s capital Lhasa have denied online rumours that the over 1,300-year-old palace will be closed in 2020 due to building subsidence. This could mean, however, that the centuries-old winter residence of the Dalai Lamas is indeed, in all likelihood, sinking, with all those numbers of visitors from China weighing it down all those years, and may very well be closed in the near future.
The palace has cooperated with Beijing Jiaotong University since 2011 and installed structural monitoring equipment to protect the main building, the official Xinhua news agency Oct 18 cited the palace’s administrative office as saying in a statement, adding that no sign of sinking has been found.
It was added that the office had set up a specific department to carry out protective repairs and maintenance work on the Potala Palace each year.
A Chinese visitor to the palace was roped in to presumably squash the alleged rumour. The report cited a visitor named Zhong Fengjuan as saying she believed the rumours about Potala Palace to be irresponsible, adding, “We should be rational and listen to official statements.”
