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Then there is this not Potala but yet another 'copy' after 'the style of Potala just as Poo T La is.
Leh Palace - a palace in the city of Leh, the former capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, is similar in design to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
1847
Site is in Russian so here's a google translation of the first two parts of the story of the Palace.
Story
The palace was built by King Senge Namgyal in the 17th century. Most likely, Jamyan Namgyal began to build a palace on this mountain, but after his death, his son Senge Namgyal ordered to build a palace on the other side of the mountain, "like an elephant's head." The king planned to settle in him himself, his family, his ministers and 60 elders. Three years later, the palace was completed. The king liked him, but (according to the legend), he ordered to cut off the right hand of the main mason so that he would not create a palace better. In the middle of the 19th century, dogra Zoravara Sigha invaded Ladakh and the royal family left the palace, moving to Stok, where the summer residence had long been located.Description
The Lech Palace has 9 floors; the upper floors were the residence of the king and his family, two small temples, a throne room, a reception room, rooms for religious rites. On the bottom were warehouses and stables. On the 4th floor, a false “courtyard” (cathog chenmo) was created for special meetings of palace dwellers, for public or cultural events. The entrance (the main ceremonial entrance) was on the north side, and it led to the 3rd floor, it was decorated with huge columns with Snow Lions. The servants lived in small rooms on floors 1, 2, 3. From the entrance, the staircase led to the courtyard of the 4th floor. Not far from the stairs, the northeast corner was also a small temple for the royal family (Dukkar Lhakhang). The 5th and 6th floors were intended for the Hall of receptions and meetings (takchen) and the rooms of the royal family, at this level there were also balconies. (now these floors are closed). Janga simjung - the throne room was on the 7th floor, in the same place the temple “Sangjeling Lahakhang” and the king’s room (shargi simjung), facing east. On the 8th floor there were several rooms of unknown purpose, on the 9th floor there was a temple. The interiors of the palace are almost destroyed, but on the 4th floor temple images of a thousand Tara, Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava were preserved, 103 volumes of Kanjur remained, in the reception hall and throne decorations of the walls and columns survived.They clearly had techniques of building that appear quite alien to us. Not sure what they were nor sure how to search for them as relates to these buildings in particular but my hunch is they had some sort of concrete recipe book that is likely hidden in plain sight somewhere or they knew how to 'grow stone' as the newearth lady talks about.
Seems that stones were used to build it if these pictures are any guide, and fairly small stones at that.
Wow. Here's a flickr album of Leh Palace and its surroundings. One may notice a few things! Leh
Up until yesterday I had never heard of the place, hiding in plane/plain sight (both definitions apply) seems to be the way of the deceiver.
