The Architecture of the Medical College on Chakpori, Lhasa

Fig. 26:
Potala Palace seen from the Medical College on Chakpori

Two monks blowing horns on the roof of the mezzanine
Photograph by Ernst Schäfer
1938/1939

Unlike the similar photo by Spencer Chapman this photo tells more about the structure of the college. We see that the monks are standing on a level higher than the monks on the Spencer Chapman photo because one looks down into the narrow passage between the face of the mezzanine and stone railing of the main roof, the level where “chapman’s monks” are standing. To the lower left in the photo is a fragment of the stone railing of an even higher location, which must be the top of the tower. This fragment also seems slightly curved in accordance with the rounded shape of the tower. This photo therefore confirms the fact that the prayer hall had a mezzanine, a fact I was not aware of in my first reconstruction attempt.