Erdene Zuu Monastery

History

Abtai Sain Khan ordered Erdene Zuu built in 1585, around the time he embraced Tibetan Buddhism and met the Third Dalai Lama. Its builders took stone and brick from the ruins of Karakorum next door, so the monastery literally rose from the old imperial capital.

The monastery was planned with a surrounding wall of 108 stupas, a sacred number in Buddhism, though that number was probably never reached. It became one of the great religious centres of Khalkha.

In 1939, during the purges, Choibalsan ordered it destroyed. Three temples and the outer stupa wall survived and became museums in 1947. After 1990 the monastery was returned to the lamas, and today it is both an active monastery of the Gelug school and a museum.

What to See

• The long white stupa wall enclosing the monastery grounds
• The three surviving temples, with statues, thangka paintings and masks
• Daily prayers in the active temple, and the view toward the Karakorum ruins

Visiting

• In the town of Kharkhorin, roughly 360 km by road west of Ulaanbaatar.
• Easily visited on foot from Kharkhorin; allow a few hours.
• It is an active monastery: dress modestly, walk clockwise around temples and stupas, and ask before photographing inside.

Distances and travel times are approximate. Check local conditions, opening hours and permits before you travel.