Potala Palace belongs to the Common Era — dated here to c. 1645 CE at Lhasa, Tibet. Dates mark a scholarly centre of gravity (dedication, completion, or iconic phase), not a single foundation day.
The Dalai Lama’s winter palace rising 13 storeys on Red Hill — a white-and-red cliff of rooms.
How it amazes the brain
Rammed earth, stone, and timber; chapels stacked like a vertical monastery-city.
Why it counts as a wonder
It never needed a contest ballot to scramble the brain: scale, craft, or sheer improbability is enough.
Altitude plus architecture: devotion as a skyline.
On dating
CE means years after the traditional birth of Christ. A monument listed as c. 1645 CE may have been founded earlier, rebuilt later, or become famous only in one phase. Engineering wonders (dams, tunnels, orbiting labs) are dated to opening or assembly.
This is story 49 of 100 in The Trend Ledger’s illustrated desk on world wonders raised after the birth of Christ — the companions to our BCE series.