Norbulingka — "Jewelled Park" — is the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas, a walled compound of pavilions, ponds and gardens on the western edge of Lhasa. The seventh Dalai Lama built the original residence in 1755 as a summer retreat from the dry austerity of the Potala; successive Dalai Lamas added their own palaces, each one slightly more grand than the last.
The most interesting building is the Takten Migyur Podrang, the New Summer Palace, built for the present 14th Dalai Lama in the 1950s. It has been preserved as he left it in March 1959 — his bedroom, his audience hall, a roomful of dated electronics — and the contrast between the religious iconography and the everyday detail (a radio, a wall map of the world) makes for an unexpectedly intimate visit.
For most of the year the park itself, a forty-hectare expanse of poplars and willows, is the real attraction. During the Shoton Festival in August, Lhasa families pitch tents under the trees and operas play across multiple stages — the city's most relaxed and untouristed festival day.