Norbulingka is the traditional summer home of the Dalai Lama. Built from 1755, it housed successive Dalai Lamas from the 1780s up until the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in 1959. It is surrounded by stone walls and filled with trees and lush gardens. In its center was a smaller yellow wall which surrounded the private area containing the Dalai Lama's home accessible only to the Dalai Lama, his advisors, and few select monks.