The renovation work on Norbu Lingka -- the Dalai Lama's summer palace, got underway on Tuesday in the western suburbs of Lhasa, the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Norbu Lingka, covering 360,000 square meters, the largest palace garden in Tibet, was built in 1751 by the 7th Dalai Lama. Successive Dalai Lamas inhabited the palace, studying Buddhism until the age of 18. The Dalai Lamas, upon assuming power, moved into the Potala Palace, but from March to October every year, they returned to Norbu Lingka to perform administrative and religious duties.

The Chinese government plans to spend 60 million yuan (US$7.23 million) to renovate Norbu Lingka, which was included on the prestigious World Cultural Heritage list in 2001.

The renovation project is being carried out by two architectural firms, one from Suzhou and the other from Lhasa, and will be completed in 2004.

The Norbu Lingka project is one of three renovation projects on cultural relic architectures, which have an estimated combined price tag of 333 million yuan (about US$40 million). The other two projects are the Potala Palace and the Sakya Monastery.