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A beautiful view of the sacred Tibetan city of Lhasa.
Situated high on the Tibetan Plateau, Bietala, more commonly known as Lhasa, "Place of the Gods" in Tibetan, is an amalgamation of historical grandeur, spiritual significance, and cultural vitality.
The image shows the iconic Potala Palace, once the chief residence of the Dalai Lama. Jokhang Temple, another critical site in Lhasa, is considered the spiritual heart of Tibet.
Alain Mannesson Mallet (1630-1706) was a French mapmaker and engineer who served in the armies of Louis XIV. After rising through the ranks, Mallet was appointed as Inspector of Fortifications, a job which also required mathematical skills and which made him a competent military engineer. Eventually, he joined the court of Louis XIV at Versailles, where he taught math and focused on writing.
Mallet is best known for his Description de L’Univers, first published in 1683, in five volumes. A wide-ranging geographical work, the Description included textual descriptions of the countries of the world, as well as maps of the celestial sky and the ancient and modern worlds. The Description continued to be published until the early eighteenth century. He also published a work in three volumes on warfare (1684) and a primer on geometry (1702).
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