Potala Palace, Lhasa
The Dalai Lamas' palace on the Red Hill, 3,700 m above sea level.
Terra Explorer Castles and hilltop monasteries
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The Standard resolution model is free as STL, 3MF, Colored 3MF, OBJ and a 16-bit heightmap. High resolution samples the place about ten times more finely.
- Region
- Lhasa
- Position
- 29.6578, 91.1175
- Area
- 5 × 5 km
- Real elevation
- 3,641 to 3,894 m (254 m of relief)
- Printed size
- 150 mm (5.9 in) wide, about 1:33,300
- Heights
- 2× exaggeration
- Elevation data
- Open satellite data (SRTM and others), about 30 m per point
- Suggested color
- Desert
- Group
- Castles and hilltop monasteries
About Potala Palace, Lhasa
Potala Palace (Tibetan: ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་, Wylie: pho brang po ta la; simplified Chinese: 布达拉宫; traditional Chinese: 布達拉宮; pinyin: Bùdálā Gōng) is a museum complex in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It was formerly the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, and from 1649 until 1959 served as the Dalai Lamas' residence. The palace complex became a museum following the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, regarded in Buddhist tradition as the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Construction of the present structure was begun in 1645 at the order of the 5th Dalai Lama, advised by Konchog Chophel, the Thirty-fifth Ganden Tripa of the Gelug school. It was built on the site of an earlier palace attributed to Songtsen Gampo (traditionally dated to 637).
From Wikipedia: Potala Palace, text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. The article’s history lists its authors.
Questions about Potala Palace, Lhasa
Where is Potala Palace?
Potala Palace is in Lhasa at 29.6578, 91.1175. The model covers a 5 by 5 kilometer square around that point.
How high is the terrain in the Potala Palace model?
The land in this model runs from 3,641 to 3,894 m (254 m of relief). These are the measured heights, printed 2 times taller so the shape is easy to see.
Can I 3D print Potala Palace?
Yes. Download the free Standard resolution STL and print it on any FDM or resin printer. It is 150 mm wide and about 20.2 mm tall, on a solid 5 mm base, at a scale of about 1:33,300. It also works for CNC carving. Use Customize to change the width, base thickness or height exaggeration, make it round or add a name plate.
How accurate is the Potala Palace model?
It is built from real elevation measurements, not an artist's guess: open satellite and survey data (NASA SRTM, Copernicus and national surveys), about 30 meters per point. The shaded picture on this page is made from the same data.
Is the Potala Palace model free?
The Standard resolution model is free as STL, 3MF, Colored 3MF, OBJ and a 16-bit heightmap. High resolution samples the place about ten times more finely and is a paid upgrade.
What is a Potala Palace terrain model good for?
People use it as a gift, a desk piece, or the base for a tabletop game or diorama.
About this terrain model
Embossify Terra builds Potala Palace, Lhasa from real measured elevation, not an artist's guess. Outside the United States the heights come from open satellite and survey data (NASA SRTM, Copernicus and national surveys), about 30 meters per point.
The model covers a 5 by 5 kilometer square centered on 29.6578, 91.1175. It prints 150 mm (5.9 in) wide on a solid base, a scale of about 1:33,300. The heights are exaggerated 2× so the shape is easy to see and feel; you can change that when you customize the model. The sea is flattened to zero, so land stands on a clean base.
New to terrain printing? Read how Terra works. The shaded picture on this page is made by Embossify from the same elevation data.
