Lhasa literally means “place of the gods”. It is also famed as ‘the Sunshine City’, due to the fact that the city enjoys abundant sunshine throughout the year. The ancient city is located in the southern part of the Tibetan high plateau at an altitude of 3650 meters above sea level and on roughly the same longitude as Cairo. The valley in which Lhasa is situated is formed by the river Kyichu, a tributary of the Brahmaputra river. The dominant peaks surrounding Lhasa range between 4400m and 5300 meters above sea level.
Lhasa rose to prominence as an important administrative centre in the 7th century AD, when King Songtsen Gampo (c 618-49) moved his capital from Yalong Valley to Lhasa and built a palace on the site now occupied by the Potala. It was at this time that the temples of Ramoche and the Jokhang were founded to house the priceless first Buddha statues brought to Tibet as the dowries of Songtsen Gampo’s Chinese and Nepali wives.
The city itself is built on a plain of marshy grounds, dominated by the three hills; namely, Marpori (“Red Mountain”), Chakpori (“Iron Mountain”) and Barmari (“Rabbit Mountain”). Lhasa valley is sheltered from the harsh winds that roam much of the Tibetan plateau, and the city benefits from a micro-climate that can be termed moderate. Maximum summer daytime temperature is 28 degrees Celsius, whereas wintertime temperatures average -15 degrees Celsius. The air is extremely dry throughout most of the year except during the summer rainy season (July-August). Lhasa has more than 300 days of sunshine a year.
Today the city has a population of around 500,000. Lhasa is still the biggest urban settlement in the Tibet Autonomous Region and has retained its importance as a holy city for the entire realm of Tibetan Buddhism.
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