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What materials were traditionally used to build Tibetan homes?
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Tibet
Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.
Traditionally, the construction materials used for Tibetan homes depend on the lifestyle of the inhabitants:
- Agriculturalists and Town Dwellers: Most permanent dwellings are one- or two-story buildings constructed with walls made of stone or brick, topped with flat clay roofs. Noble families in cities like Lhasa traditionally built town houses of stone arranged around a rectangular courtyard.1
- Nomadic Pastoralists: These groups live in rectangular tents made from yak hair, which typically range from 12 to 50 feet in length.1
For more significant structures, such as monasteries and official residences like the Potala Palace, Tibetans utilized solid indigenous building styles, often incorporating intricate interior carvings inspired by Indian and Nepalese traditions.2