Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the
capital and
most populous city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or th ...
of
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north central Mongolia at an elevation of about in a valley on the
Tuul River
, , "to wade through"
, nickname = Queen Tuul
, image = Tuul River Mongolia.JPG
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Tuul flowing through the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
, map = Toula (riv ...
. The city was originally founded in 1639 as a nomadic
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
monastic
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...
center, changing location 28 times, and was permanently settled at its current location in 1778.
During its early years, as Örgöö (anglicized as Urga), it became
Mongolia's preeminent religious center and seat of the
Jebtsundamba Khutuktu
The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...
, the spiritual head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Following the regulation of
Qing-Russian trade by the
Treaty of Kyakhta in 1727, a caravan route between
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and
Kyakhta
Kyakhta (russian: Кя́хта, ; bua, Хяагта, Khiaagta, ; mn, Хиагт, Hiagt, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kyakhtinsky District in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Mongolia–Rus ...
opened up, along which the city was eventually settled. With the collapse of the Qing Empire in 1911, the city was a focal point for independence efforts, leading to the
proclamation of the Bogd Khanate in 1911 led by the
8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, or Bogd Khan, and again during the
communist revolution of 1921. With the proclamation of the
Mongolian People's Republic
The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...
in 1924, the city was officially renamed Ulaanbaatar and declared the country's capital. Modern urban planning began in the 1950s, with most of the old Ger districts replaced by
Soviet-style flats. In 1990, Ulaanbaatar was a major site of demonstrations that led to
Mongolia's transition to democracy and a market economy. Since 1990, an influx of migrants from the rest of the country has led to an explosive growth in its population, a major portion of whom live in
Ger districts, which has led to
harmful air pollution in winter.
Governed as an
independent municipality, Ulaanbaatar is surrounded by
Töv Province
Töv ( mn, Төв, , ; "central") is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia. The national capital Ulaanbaatar is located roughly at its center, but the city itself is administrated as an independent municipality.
Geography
The Aimag inc ...
, whose capital
Zuunmod
Zuunmod ( mn, Зуунмод; , "Hundred Trees") is the administrative seat of Mongolia's Töv Province. It has a population of 16,953 (2017) inhabitants and an area of 19.18 square kilometres. Zuunmod is located on the south side of Bogd Khan Mo ...
lies south of the city. With a population of just under 1.61 million , it contains almost half of the country's total population.
As the country's
primate city, it serves as the cultural, industrial and financial heart as well as the center of Mongolia's transport network, connected by rail to both the
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
in Russia and the
Chinese railway system.
Names and etymology
The city at its establishment in 1639 was referred to as ( mn, ; Өргөө, lit=Palace). This name was eventually adapted as in the West. By 1651, it began to be referred to as ( mn, ; Номын хүрээ, lit=Khüree of Wisdom), and by 1706 it was referred to as ( mn, ; Их хүрээ, lit=Great Khüree). The Chinese equivalent, ( zh, 大庫倫, lit=Great Kùlún, mn, Да Хүрээ), was rendered into Western languages as ''Kulun'' or ''Kuren''.
Other names include ( mn, ; Богдын хүрээ, , lit=The
Bogd's Khüree), or simply ( mn, ; Хүрээ, translit=
Küriye), itself a term originally referring to an ''enclosure'' or ''settlement''.
Upon
independence in 1911, with both the secular government and the
Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan, , ; ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's ''de facto'' independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most importa ...
's palace present, the city's name was changed to ( mn, ; Нийслэл Хүрээ, lit=Capital Khüree).
When the city became the capital of the new
Mongolian People's Republic
The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...
in 1924, its name was changed to ''Ulaanbaatar'' ().
In the Western world, Ulaanbaatar continued to be generally known as Urga or Khuree until 1924, and afterward as Ulan Bator (a spelling derived from the Russian ). This form was defined two decades before the Mongolian name got its current
Cyrillic spelling and transliteration (1941–1950); however, the name of the city was spelled ''Ulaanbaatar koto'' during the decade
in which Mongolia used the Latin alphabet.
Today, the city is referred to simply as ( mn, хот, lit=city), as well as UB (''you-be''), from the English transliteration.
History
Prehistory
Human habitation at the site of Ulaanbaatar dates from the
Lower Paleolithic, with a number of sites on the
Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan, , ; ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's ''de facto'' independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most importa ...
, Buyant-Ukhaa and Songinokhairkhan mountains, revealing tools which date from 300,000 years ago to 40,000–12,000 years ago. These
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...
people hunted
mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...
and
woolly rhinoceros
The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...
, the bones of which are found abundantly around Ulaanbaatar.
Before 1639
![WangKhanRuins](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/WangKhanRuins.jpg)
A number of
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...
-era royal tombs have been discovered around Ulaanbaatar, including the tombs of Belkh Gorge near Dambadarjaalin monastery and tombs of Songinokhairkhan. Located on the banks of the
Tuul River
, , "to wade through"
, nickname = Queen Tuul
, image = Tuul River Mongolia.JPG
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Tuul flowing through the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
, map = Toula (riv ...
, Ulaanbaatar has been well within the sphere of Turco-Mongol
nomadic empires
Nomadic empires, sometimes also called steppe empires, Central or Inner Asian empires, were the empires erected by the bow-wielding, horse-riding, nomadic people in the Eurasian Steppe, from classical antiquity (Scythia) to the early modern era ...
throughout history.
Wang Khan
Toghrul ( mn, Тоорил хан ''Tooril han''; ), also known as Wang Khan or Ong Khan ( ''Wan han''; ; died 1203) was a khan of the Keraites. He was the blood brother ( anda) of the Mongol chief Yesugei and served as an important early patro ...
, Toghrul of the
Keraites
The Keraites (also ''Kerait, Kereit, Khereid''; ; ) were one of the five dominant Mongol or Turkic tribal confederations ( khanates) in the Altai-Sayan region during the 12th century. They had converted to the Church of the East ( Nestorianism ...
, a
Nestorian Christian monarch whom
Marco Polo identified as the legendary
Prester John
Prester John ( la, Presbyter Ioannes) was a legendary Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian nation lost ...
, is said to have had his palace here (the Black Forest of the Tuul River) and forbade hunting in the holy mountain Bogd Uul. The palace is said to be where
Genghis Khan stayed with Yesui Khatun before attacking the
Tangut in 1226.
During the
Mongol Empire (1206-1368) and
Northern Yuan Dynasty
The Northern Yuan () was a dynastic regime ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen-led Later Ji ...
(1368-1635) the main, natural route from the capital region of
Karakorum
Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in th ...
to the birthplace and tomb of the Khans in the Khentii mountain region (
Ikh Khorig
The Ikh Khorig, or Great Taboo, is a area in the Khentii Aimag (province) of Mongolia, believed by some to be the location of Genghis Khan's grave. It has been carefully guarded for most of its history, and it is only since the late 1980s that t ...
) passed through the area of Ulaanbaatar. The Tuul River naturally leads to the north-side of Bogd Khan Mountain, which stands out as a large island of forest positioned conspicuously at the south-western edge of the Khentii mountains. As the main gate and stopover point on the route to and from the holy Khentii mountains, the Bogd Khan Mountain saw large amounts of traffic going past it and was protected from early times. Even after the Northern Yuan period it served as the location of the annual and triannual Assembly of Nobles (''Khan Uuliin Chuulgan'').
Mobile monastery
Founded in 1639 as a
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...
monastery, Ulaanbaatar, originally Örgöö (palace-
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...
), was first located at Lake Shireet Tsagaan nuur ( directly east of the imperial capital Karakorum) in what is now
Burd sum,
Övörkhangai, around south-west from the present site of Ulaanbaatar, and was intended by the Mongol nobles to be the seat of
Zanabazar
Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, , , "High Saint Zanabazar"; 1635–1723 (born Eshidorji) was the sixteenth '' Jebtsundamba Khutuktu'' and the first ''Bogd Gegeen'' or supreme spiritual authority, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism ...
, the first
Jebtsundamba Khutughtu
The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...
. Zanabazar returned to Mongolia from Tibet in 1651, and founded seven ''aimags'' (monastic departments) in Urga, later establishing four more.
As a mobile monastery-town, Örgöö was often moved to various places along the
Selenge,
Orkhon and Tuul rivers, as supply and other needs would demand. During the
Dzungar
Dzungar may refer to:
*Dzungar people, Oirat tribes in the Dzungar Khanate
*Dzungar Khanate, a historical empire
* Jungar Banner, an administrative division of China
*Junggar Basin
The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in ...
wars of the late 17th century, it was even moved to
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
. As the city grew, it moved less and less.
The movements of the city can be detailed as follows: Shireet Tsagaan Nuur (1639), Khoshoo Tsaidam (1640), Khentii Mountains (1654), Ogoomor (1688), Inner Mongolia (1690), Tsetserlegiin Erdene Tolgoi (1700), Daagandel (1719), Usan Seer (1720), Ikh Tamir (1722), Jargalant (1723), Eeven Gol (1724), Khujirtbulan (1729), Burgaltai (1730), Sognogor (1732), Terelj (1733), Uliastai River (1734), Khui Mandal (1736), Khuntsal (1740), Udleg (1742), Ogoomor (1743), Selbe (1747), Uliastai River (1756), Selbe (1762), Khui Mandal (1772) and Selbe (1778).
In 1778, the city moved from Khui Mandal and settled for good at its current location, near the confluence of the Selbe and Tuul rivers, and beneath
Bogd Khan Uul, at that time also on the caravan route from
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to
Kyakhta
Kyakhta (russian: Кя́хта, ; bua, Хяагта, Khiaagta, ; mn, Хиагт, Hiagt, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kyakhtinsky District in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Mongolia–Rus ...
.
One of the earliest Western mentions of Urga is the account of the Scottish traveller
John Bell in 1721:
By Zanabazar's death in 1723, Urga was Mongolia's preeminent monastery in terms of religious authority. A council of seven of the highest-ranking
lamas (''Khamba Nomon Khan'', ''Ded Khamba'' and five ''Tsorj'') made most of the city's religious decisions. It had also become Outer Mongolia's commercial center. From 1733 to 1778, Urga moved around the vicinity of its present location. In 1754, the Erdene Shanzodba Yam of Urga was given authority to supervise the administrative affairs of the Bogd's subjects. It also served as the city's chief judicial court. In 1758, the Qianlong Emperor appointed the
Khalkha
The Khalkha (Mongolian script, Mongolian: mn, Халх, Halh, , zh, 喀爾喀) have been the largest subgroup of Mongols, Mongol people in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos Mongols, Ordos and Tum ...
Vice General Sanzaidorj as the first Mongol
amban of Urga, with full authority to "oversee the Khuree and administer well all the
Khutugtu's subjects".
In 1761, a second amban was appointed for the same purpose, a
Manchu one. A quarter-century later, in 1786, a decree issued in Peking gave right to the Urga ambans to decide the administrative affairs of
Tusheet Khan and Setsen Khan territories. With this, Urga became the highest civil authority in the country. Based on Urga's Mongol governor Sanzaidorj's petition, the
Qianlong Emperor officially recognized an annual ceremony on Bogd Khan Mountain in 1778 and provided the annual imperial donations. The city was the seat of the
Jebtsundamba Khutugtus, two
Qing ambans, and a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
trade town grew "four trees" east of the city center at the confluence of the Uliastai and Tuul rivers.
![OldPaintingUrga](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/OldPaintingUrga.jpg)
By 1778, Urga may have had as many as ten thousand monks, who were regulated by a monastic rule, Internal Rule of the Grand Monastery or ''Yeke Kuriyen-u Doto'adu Durem''. For example, in 1797 a decree of the 4th Jebtsundamba forbade "singing, playing with archery, myagman, chess, usury and smoking"). Executions were forbidden where the holy temples of the Bogd Jebtsundama could be seen, so capital punishment took place away from the city.
In 1839, the 5th Bogd Jebtsundamba moved his residence to Gandan Hill, an elevated position to the west of the Baruun Damnuurchin markets. Part of the city was moved to nearby Tolgoit. In 1855, the part of the camp that moved to Tolgoit was brought back to its 1778 location, and the 7th Bogd Jebtsundamba returned to the Zuun Khuree. The
Gandan Monastery flourished as a center of philosophical studies.
Urga and the Kyakhta trade
Following the
Treaty of Kyakhta
The Treaty of Kyakhta (or Kiakhta),, ; , Xiao'erjing: بُلِيًاصِٿِ\ٿِاكْتُ تِيَوْيُؤ; mn, Хиагтын гэрээ, Hiagtiin geree, along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), regulated the relations between Imperial ...
in 1727, Urga (Ulaanbaatar) was a major point of the
Kyakhta trade
The Kyakhta Trade (russian: История кяхтинской торговли, ''Istorija kjahtinskoj torgovli'', zh, 恰克图商路) refers to the trade between Russia and China through the town of Kyakhta on the Mongolian border south of L ...
between Russia and China – mostly Siberian furs for Chinese cloth and later tea. The route ran south to Urga, southeast across the
Gobi Desert to
Kalgan
Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southw ...
, and southeast over the mountains to Peking. Urga was also a collection point for goods coming from further west. These were either sent to China or shipped north to Russia via Kyakhta, because of legal restrictions and the lack of good trade routes to the west.
By 1908, there was a Russian quarter with a few hundred merchants and a Russian club and informal Russian mayor. East of the main town was the Russian consulate, built in 1863, with an
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
church, a post office and 20
Cossack guards. It was fortified in 1900 and briefly occupied by troops during the
Boxer Rebellion. There was a telegraph line north to Kyakhta and southeast to Kalgan and weekly postal service along these routes.
Beyond the Russian consulate was the Chinese trading post called
Maimaicheng, and nearby the palace of the Manchu viceroy. With the growth of Western trade at the Chinese ports, the tea trade to Russia declined, some Chinese merchants left, and wool became the main export. Manufactured goods still came from Russia, but most were now brought from Kalgan by caravan. The annual trade was estimated at 25 million rubles, nine-tenths in Chinese hands and one-tenth in Russian.
![Jugder3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Jugder3.jpg)
The Moscow trade expedition of the 1910s estimated the population of Urga at 60,000, based on
Nikolay Przhevalsky's study in the 1870s.
["From Khutagtiin Khuree to Niislel Khuree](_blank)
, Presentation of the Director of the General Archives Authority D. Ulziibaatar", archives.gov.mn; accessed 26 March 2018.
The city's population swelled during the
Naadam festival and major religious festivals to more than 100,000. In 1919, the number of monks had reached 20,000, up from 13,000 in 1810.
Independence and Niislel Khüree
![1913 in Khuree](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/1913_in_Khuree.jpg)
In 1910, the ''amban''
Sando went to quell a major fight between
Gandan lamas and Chinese traders started by an incident at the Da Yi Yu shop in the Baruun Damnuurchin market district. He was unable to bring the lamas under control, and was forced to flee back to his quarters. In 1911, with the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
in China headed for total collapse, Mongolian leaders in Ikh Khüree for
Naadam met in secret on Mount Bogd Khan Uul and resolved to end 220 years of
Manchu control of their country.
On 29 December 1911, the
8th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu was declared ruler of an
independent Mongolia and assumed the title Bogd Khan.
Khüree as the seat of the Jebtsundamba Khutugtu was the logical choice for the capital of the new state. However, following the
tripartite Kyakhta agreement of 1915, Mongolia's status was effectively reduced to mere autonomy.
In 1919, Mongolian nobles, over the opposition of the Bogd Khan, agreed with the Chinese resident Chen Yi on a settlement of the "Mongolian question" along Qing-era lines, but before this settlement could be put into effect, Khüree was occupied by the troops of Chinese warlord
Xu Shuzheng
Hsu Seu-Cheng or Xu Shuzheng (; ) (11 November 1880 – 29 December 1925) was a Chinese warlord in Republican China. A subordinate and right-hand man of Duan Qirui, he was a prominent member of the Anhui clique.
Early life
Xu was born in ...
, who forced the Mongolian nobles and clergy to renounce autonomy completely.
The city changed hands twice in 1921. First, on 4 February, a mixed Russian/Mongolian force led by
White Russian warlord
Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (russian: link=no, Роман Фёдорович фон Унгерн-Штернберг, translit=Roman Fedorovich fon Ungern-Shternberg; 10 January 1886 – 15 September 1921), often refer ...
captured the city, freeing the
Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan, , ; ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's ''de facto'' independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most importa ...
from Chinese imprisonment and killing a part of the Chinese garrison. Baron Ungern's capture of Urga was followed by the clearing out of Mongolia's small gangs of demoralized Chinese soldiers and, at the same time, looting and murder of foreigners, including a vicious pogrom that
killed off the Jewish community.
On 22 February 1921, the Bogd Khan was once again elevated to Great Khan of Mongolia in Urga. However, at the same time that Baron Ungern was taking control of Urga, a Soviet-supported Communist Mongolian force led by
Damdin Sükhbaatar
Damdin Sükhbaatar ( mn, Дамдины Сүхбаатар, Damdinii Sühbaatar, ; February 2, 1893 – February 20, 1923) was a Mongolian communist revolutionary, founding member of the Mongolian People's Party, and leader of the Mongolia ...
was forming in Russia, and in March they crossed the border. Ungern and his men rode out in May to meet Red Russian and Red Mongolian troops, but suffered a disastrous defeat in June.
In July 1921, the Communist Soviet-Mongolian army became the second conquering force in six months to enter Urga, and Mongolia came under the control of Soviet Russia. On 29 October 1924, the town was renamed ''Ulaanbaatar''. On the session of the 1st Great People's Khuraldaan of Mongolia in 1924, a majority of delegates had expressed their wish to change the capital city's name to ''
Baatar Khot'' ("Hero City"). However, under pressure from
Turar Ryskulov
Turar Ryskululy Ryskulov ( kk, Тұрар Рысқұлұлы Рысқұлов, ''Tūrar Rysqūlūly Rysqūlov''; Russian: Турар Рыскулович Рыскулов; 26 December 1894 – 10 February 1938) was a Soviet politician, the chair ...
, a Soviet activist of the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...
, the city was named ''Ulaanbaatar Khot'' ("City of Red Hero").
Socialist era
![Dzah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Dzah.jpg)
During the socialist period, especially following the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, most of the old
ger districts were replaced by
Soviet-style blocks of flats, often financed by the Soviet Union.
Urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
began in the 1950s, and most of the city today is a result of construction between 1960 and 1985.
The
Trans-Mongolian Railway
, map_name =
, map_state = collapsed
, embedded =
The Trans-Mongolian Railway follows an ancient tea-caravan route from China to Russia and connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans–Baikal Railway, Trans–Baikal (Trans–Sib ...
, connecting Ulaanbaatar with Moscow and Beijing, was completed in 1956, and cinemas, theaters, museums and other modern facilities were erected. Most of the temples and monasteries of pre-socialist Khüree were destroyed following the anti-religious
purges
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
of the late 1930s. The Gandan monastery was reopened in 1944 when the
U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace asked to see a monastery during his visit to Mongolia.
Democratic protests of 1989–1990
Ulaanbaatar was a major site of demonstrations that led to Mongolia's
transition to democracy and market economy in 1990. On 10 December 1989, protesters outside the Youth Culture Center called for Mongolia to implement
perestroika and
glasnost in their full sense. Dissident leaders demanded free elections and economic reform. On 14 January 1990, the protesters, having grown from two hundred to over a thousand, met at the Lenin Museum in Ulaanbaatar. A demonstration in Sükhbaatar Square on 21 January followed. Afterwards, weekend demonstrations were held in January and February, accompanied by the forming of Mongolia's first opposition parties.
On 7 March, ten dissidents assembled in Sükhbaatar Square and went on a hunger strike. Thousands of supporters joined them. More arrived the following day and the crowd grew more unruly. 71 people were injured, one fatally. On 9 March, the Communist
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) government resigned. The provisional government announced Mongolia's first free elections, which were held in July. The
MPRP won the election and resumed power.
Since 1990
Since Mongolia's transition to a market economy in 1990, the city has experienced further growth—especially in the ger districts, as construction of new blocks of flats had basically slowed to a halt in the 1990s. The population has more than doubled to over one million inhabitants. The rapid growth has caused a number of social, environmental and transportation problems. In recent years, construction of new buildings has gained new momentum, especially in the city center, and apartment prices have skyrocketed.
In 2008,
Ulaanbaatar was the scene of riots after the
Mongolian Democratic,
Civic Will Party and
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
parties disputed the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's victory in the
parliamentary elections. A four-day state of emergency was declared, the capital was placed under a 22:00-to-08:00 curfew, and alcohol sales banned;
following these measures, rioting did not resume.
This was the first deadly riot in modern Ulaanbaatar's history.
In April 2013, Ulaanbaatar hosted the 7th Ministerial Conference of the
Community of Democracies
The Community of Democracies (C.O.D), established in 2000, is an intergovernmental coalition of states. Its aim is to bring together governments, civil society and the private sector in the pursuit of the common goal of supporting democratic rul ...
, and has also lent its name to the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security.
Demolition of historic buildings
In October 2019, one of the oldest structures in Ulaanbaatar, the wooden building that housed the Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum, was demolished.
The 2019 Mongolian government budget furthermore included items for the demolition of a number of historic neoclassical buildings in the heart of Ulaanbaatar, including the
Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
,
Opera and Ballet House, Drama Theatre and Central Library. The decision was met by a public outcry and criticism from the Union of Mongolian Architects, which demanded that the buildings be preserved and restored. Despite daily sit-ins by protesters, the Natural History Museum was duly demolished. In January 2020, culture minister Yondonperenlein Baatarbileg denied that the government intended to demolish the other buildings and stated that the government planned to renovate them instead.
Geography
![The private sector with yurts against the backdrop of high-rise new buildings in Ulaanbaatar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/The_private_sector_with_yurts_against_the_backdrop_of_high-rise_new_buildings_in_Ulaanbaatar.jpg)
Ulaanbaatar is located at about above mean
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
, slightly east of the center of Mongolia, on the Tuul River, a sub-
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
of the
Selenge, in a valley at the foot of the mountain
Bogd Khan Uul. Bogd Khan Uul is a broad, heavily forested mountain rising to the south of Ulaanbaatar. It forms the boundary between the
steppe zone to the south and the forest-steppe zone to the north.
The forests of the mountains surrounding Ulaanbaatar are composed of evergreen pines,
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
larches and
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
es, while the riverine forest of the Tuul River is composed of broad-leaved, deciduous
poplars,
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
s and
willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...
s. Ulaanbaatar lies at roughly the same latitude as
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...]
. It lies at roughly the same longitude as
Chongqing,
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
and
Jakarta.
Climate
Owing to its high elevation, its relatively high latitude, its location hundreds of kilometres from any coast, and the effects of the
Siberian anticyclone, Ulaanbaatar is the coldest national capital in the world,
[Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, , pg. 35] with a
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
-influenced, cold
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''
BSk BSK is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:
Sports
* OFK Beograd, Serbian football club
* FK BSK Borča, Serbian football club
* FK BSK Batajnica, Serbian football club
* FK BSK Banja Luka, Bosnian-Herzegovinian football club
* FK BSK L ...
'', USDA
Plant Hardiness Zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
3b). Aside from precipitation and from a thermal standpoint, the city is on the boundary between
humid continental
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(''Dwb'') and
subarctic (''Dwc''). This is due to its mean temperature for the month of May.
The city features brief, warm summers and long, bitterly cold and dry winters. The coldest January temperatures, usually at the time just before sunrise, are between with no wind, due to
temperature inversion
In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion of the air temperature lapse rate, in which case it is called a temperature inversion. Nor ...
. Most of the annual
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
of falls from May to September. The highest recorded annual precipitation in the city was at the Khureltogoot Astronomical Observatory on Mount Bogd Khan Uul. Ulaanbaatar has an average annual temperature of ,
making it the coldest capital in the world (almost as cold as
Nuuk
Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...
,
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
, but Greenland is not independent). Nuuk has a tundra climate with consistent cold temperatures throughout the year. Ulaanbaatar's annual average is brought down by its cold winter temperatures even though it is significantly warm from late April to early October.
The city lies in the zone of
discontinuous permafrost
Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
, which means that building is difficult in sheltered locations that preclude thawing in the summer, but easier on more exposed ones where soils fully thaw. Suburban residents live in traditional
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...
s that do not protrude into the soil. Extreme temperatures in the city range from in January and February 1957 to in July 1988.
[
]
Administration and subdivisions
Ulaanbaatar is divided into nine districts (): Baganuur
8Baganuur ( mn, Багануур, , ''Little Lake'') is one of nine düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into six khoroos (subdistricts).
Baganuur is a distanced district, located as an exclave of on th ...
, Bagakhangai
Bagakhangai ( mn, Багахангай, ''small wooded area'') is one of nine düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. Bagakhangai is an exclave of southeast of the main part of the capital surrounded by Töv Province. It wa ...
, Bayangol, Bayanzürkh
Bayanzürkh (, ''rich heart'') is one of nine Düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into 20 Khoroos (subdistricts).
It is the largest district in the capital and lies in the southeast of the city. It was ...
, Chingeltei
Chingeltei () is one of nine Düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into 18 Khoroos (subdistricts).
Chingeltei is located in the north, at the foot of one of the four mountains of Ulaanbaatar, the Chingel ...
, Khan Uul
Khan Uul (, ''khan mountain'') is one of nine Düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into 14 Khoroos (subdistricts).
Khan Uul is located in the south, at the foot of one of the four mountains of Ulaanbaata ...
, Nalaikh
Nalaikh () is one of nine Düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into 8 Khoroo
A khoroo ( mn, хороо) is an administrative subdivision of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The term is often tra ...
, Songino Khairkhan
Songino Khairkhan (, ''onion mountain'') is one of nine Düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most po ...
and Sükhbaatar. Each district is subdivided into khoroo
A khoroo ( mn, хороо) is an administrative subdivision of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The term is often translated as subdistrict or microdistrict, although the latter might lead to confusion with khoroolols. A khoroo is below the l ...
s, of which there are 173. Each district also serves as a constituency that elects one or more representatives into the State Great Khural, the national parliament.
Although administratively part of Ulaanbaatar, Nalaikh and Baganuur are separate cities. Bagakhangai and Baganuur are noncontiguous exclaves, the former located within the Töv Province
Töv ( mn, Төв, , ; "central") is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia. The national capital Ulaanbaatar is located roughly at its center, but the city itself is administrated as an independent municipality.
Geography
The Aimag inc ...
, the latter on the border between Töv and Khentii provinces.
The capital is governed by a Citizens' Representatives Khural of the Capital city (city council) with 45 members, elected every four years. The Prime Minister of Mongolia
The Prime Minister of Mongolia () is the head of government of Mongolia and heads the Mongolian cabinet. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Mongolian parliament or the State Great Hural, and can be removed by the parliament with a vote of no ...
appoints the Governor of the Capital city and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar with four-year terms upon the city council's nomination. When his predecessor Sainbuyangiin Amarsaikhan became member of State Great Khural in July 2020, First Deputy Governor of the capital city Jantsangiin Batbayasgalan was elected as acting Governor of the Capital city and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar. Ulaanbaatar is governed as an independent first-level region, separate from the surrounding Töv Aimag.
Economy
The largest corporations and conglomerates of Mongolia are almost all headquartered in Ulaanbaatar. In 2017 Ulaanbaatar had five billionaires and 90 multimillionaires with net worth above 10 million dollars. Major Mongolian companies include MCS Group, Gatsuurt LLC, Genco, MAK, Altai Trading, Tavan Bogd Group, Mobicom Corporation, Bodi, Shunkhlai, Monnis and Petrovis. While not on the level of multinational corporations, most of these companies are multi-sector conglomerates with far-reaching influence in the country.
Ulaanbaatar (Urga) has been a key location where the economic history and wealth creation of the nation has played out. Unlike the highly mobile dwellings of herders nomadizing between winter and summer pastures, Urga was set up to be a semi-permanent residence of the high lama Zanabazar
Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, , , "High Saint Zanabazar"; 1635–1723 (born Eshidorji) was the sixteenth '' Jebtsundamba Khutuktu'' and the first ''Bogd Gegeen'' or supreme spiritual authority, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism ...
. It stood in one location (Khoshoo Tsaidam) from 1640 to 1654, an unusually long period of 15 years, before Zanabazar moved it east to the foot of Mount Saridag in the Khentii Mountains
The Khentii Mountains ( mn, Хэнтийн нуруу) are a mountain range in the Töv and Khentii Provinces in North Eastern Mongolia.
Geography
The mountain chain overlaps the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and includes Mongolia's ...
. Here he set about building a permanent monastery town with stone buildings. Urga stayed at Mount Saridag for a full 35 years and was indeed assumed to be permanent there when Oirats suddenly invaded the region in 1688 and burnt down the city. With a major part of his life's work destroyed, Zanabazar had to take the mobile portion of Urga and flee to Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
.
More than half the wealth created in Urga in the period from 1639 to 1688 is thought to have been lost in 1688. Only in 1701 did Urga return to the region and start a second period of expansion, but it had to remain mobile until the end of the 70-year-long Dzungar-Qing Wars in 1757. After settling down in its current location in 1778, Urga saw sustained economic growth, but most of the wealth went to the Buddhist clergy, nobles as well as the temporary Shanxi merchants based in the eastern and western China-towns of Urga. There were numerous companies called ''puus'' (пүүс) and temple treasuries called ''jas'' (жас), which functioned as businesses, but none of these survived the Communist period. During the Mongolian People's Republic
The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...
, private property was only marginally tolerated, while most assets were state-owned. The oldest companies still operating in Ulaanbaatar date to the early MPR. Only the Gandantegchinlen Monastery
The Gandantegchinlen Monastery ( mn, Гандантэгчинлэн хийд, ''Gandantegchinlen khiid'', short name: Gandan mn, Гандан) is a Mongolian Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar that has been restored and r ...
has been operating non-stop for 205 years (with a 6-year gap during World War II), but whether it can be seen as a business is still debated.
As the main industrial center of Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
, Ulaanbaatar produces a variety of consumer goods and is responsible for about two-thirds of Mongolia's total gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is oft ...
(GDP).[Economic Development in Mongolia. ''The Asia Foundation''. Availabl]
here
accessed 13 November 2016.
The transition to a market economy in 1990 has so far correlated with an increase in GDP, leading to a shift towards service industries (which now make up up 43% of the city's GDP) along with rapid urbanization and population growth.
Mining is the second-largest contributor to Ulaanbaatar's GDP, at 25%. North of the city are several gold mines, including the Boroo Gold Mine, and foreign investment in the sector has allowed for growth and development. However, in light of a noticeable drop in GDP during the financial crisis of 2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
, as demand for mining exports dropped, there has been movement towards diversifying the economy.
Architecture and landmarks
The city consists of a central district built in Soviet 1940s- and 1950s-style architecture, surrounded by and mingled with residential concrete towerblocks and large ger districts. In recent years, many of the towerblocks' ground floors have been modified and upgraded to small shops, and many new buildings have been erected—some illegally, as some private companies erect buildings without legal licenses/permits in forbidden places.
Ulaanbaatar's main landmarks include the Gandantegchinlen Monastery
The Gandantegchinlen Monastery ( mn, Гандантэгчинлэн хийд, ''Gandantegchinlen khiid'', short name: Gandan mn, Гандан) is a Mongolian Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar that has been restored and r ...
with the large Janraisig statue, the socialist monument complex at Zaisan Memorial
The Zaisan Memorial ( mn, Зайсан) is a memorial in the southern area of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar in the '' duureg'' (district) of Khan-Uul that honors allied Mongolian and Soviet soldiers killed in World War II. Located on a ...
with its great view over the city, the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, Sükhbaatar Square
Sükhbaatar Square ( mn, Сүхбаатарын талбай, pronounced ''Sükhbaatariin Talbai'') is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The square was named for Mongolian's revolutionary hero Damdin Sükhbaatar after his death ...
and the nearby Choijin Lama Temple.
The city also houses numerous museums, two of the prominent ones being the National Museum of Mongolia and the Zanabazar Fine Arts Museum. Popular destinations for day trips are the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park ( mn, Горхи-Тэрэлж , ''creek-rhododendron'') is one of the national parks of Mongolia. The Terelj tourist zone has a number of "tourist camps" ( mn, жуулчны бааз, ''juulchny baaz''). It is connect ...
, the Manzushir monastery ruins on the southern flank of Bogd Khan Uul and Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue.
Important shopping districts include the 3rd Microdistrict Boulevard (simply called ''Khoroolol'' or "the District"), Peace Avenue around the State Department Store (simply called ''Ikh Delguur'' or "Great Store") and the Narantuul "Black Market" area (simply called ''Zakh'' or "the Market").
Ulaanbaatar presently has three large cinemas, one modern ski resort, two large indoor stadiums, several large department stores and one large amusement park. Food, entertainment and recreation venues are steadily increasing in variety. KFC, Round Table Pizza
Round Table Pizza is a chain and franchise of pizza parlours in the Western United States. The first Round Table Pizza restaurant was opened in 1959, and the company has over 400 restaurants. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ove ...
, Cinnabon, Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and leather ...
, Ramada and Kempinski
Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the ''Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft'', the group currently operates 78 five-star ho ...
have opened branches in key locations.
The skyline is dominated by the Blue Sky Tower. A tower called the Morin Khuur Tower (Horsehead Fiddle Tower) is planned to be built next to the Central Stadium. The 41-floor Mak Tower is being built by Lotte Construction and Engineering, a South Korean firm.
File:Wedding Chinggis Square.jpg, Wedding at the Sükhbaatar Square
Sükhbaatar Square ( mn, Сүхбаатарын талбай, pronounced ''Sükhbaatariin Talbai'') is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The square was named for Mongolian's revolutionary hero Damdin Sükhbaatar after his death ...
File:UB Food Festival.jpg, International Food Festival, held annually in UB in September
File:Zaisan Hill.jpg, Zaisan Memorial
The Zaisan Memorial ( mn, Зайсан) is a memorial in the southern area of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar in the '' duureg'' (district) of Khan-Uul that honors allied Mongolian and Soviet soldiers killed in World War II. Located on a ...
, dedicated to Russian and Mongolian war heroes
File:Chinggis Square.jpg, The Sükhbaatar Square
Sükhbaatar Square ( mn, Сүхбаатарын талбай, pronounced ''Sükhbaatariin Talbai'') is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The square was named for Mongolian's revolutionary hero Damdin Sükhbaatar after his death ...
and Mongolian Parliament
File:Ceremonial Concert.jpg, One of many events in the city (shown here, Naadam)
File:Chinggis Khaan statue Complex.jpg, Equestrian statue of Genghis Khan.
File:Aryabal Meditation Center.jpg, Aryabal Meditation Center at Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park ( mn, Горхи-Тэрэлж , ''creek-rhododendron'') is one of the national parks of Mongolia. The Terelj tourist zone has a number of "tourist camps" ( mn, жуулчны бааз, ''juulchny baaz''). It is connect ...
File:UB Street Art 2.jpg, Street art at UB's Peace Avenue
File:Beatles Monument.jpg, The Beatles monument, a popular place for the youth of UB to gather around
File:Takhi – Wild horse.jpg, Khustain Nuruu National Park
Hustai National Park (), located in the Khustai Mountains (, lit. ''Birch Mountains'') of Töv Province (Aimag), is a national park of Mongolia. It is also known as Khustain Nuruu National Park. The Tuul River runs through the park.
History
Th ...
, home of the wild horse Takhi
Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of Ce ...
, just west of UB
File:Dambadarjaalin Monastery in Ulan Bator.jpg, Dambadarjaalin Monastery in UlaanBaatar
Monasteries
Among the notable older monasteries is the Choijin Lama Monastery, a Buddhist monastery that was completed in 1908. It escaped the destruction of Mongolian monasteries when it was turned into a museum in 1942.
Another is the Gandan Monastery, which dates to the 19th century. Its most famous attraction is a 26.5-meter-high golden statue of Migjid Janraisig. These monasteries are among the very few in Mongolia to escape the wholesale destruction of Mongolian monasteries under Khorloogiin Choibalsan
Khorloogiin Choibalsan ( mn, Хорлоогийн Чойбалсан, spelled ''Koroloogiin Çoibalsan'' before 1941; 8 February 1895 – 26 January 1952) was the leader of Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic) and Marshal (general chief com ...
.
Winter Palace
The old city of Ikh Khüree, once it was set up as a permanent capital, had a number of palaces and noble residences in an area called ''Öndgiin sürgiin nutag''. The Jebtsundamba Khutughtu
The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...
, who was later crowned Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan, , ; ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's ''de facto'' independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most importa ...
, had four main imperial residences, which were located between the Middle (''Dund gol'') and Tuul rivers. The summer palace was called ''Erdmiin dalai buyan chuulgan süm'' or ''Bogd khaanii serüün ord''. Other palaces were the White Palace (''Tsagaan süm'', or ''Gьngaa dejidlin''), and the Pandelin Palace (also called '' Naro Kha Chod süm''), which was situated on the left bank of the Tuul River. Some of the palaces were also used for religious purposes.
The only palace that remains is the winter palace; the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan (''Bogd khaanii nogoon süm'' or ''Bogd khaanii öwliin ordon'') remains as a museum of the last monarch. The complex includes six temples, and many of the Bogd Khan's and his wife's possessions are on display in the main building.
Museums
Ulaanbaatar has several museums dedicated to Mongolian history and culture. The Natural History Museum features many dinosaur fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s and meteorites found in Mongolia.
The National Museum of Mongolia
The National Museum of Mongolia ( mn, 1=Монголын үндэсний түүхийн музей); formerly the National Museum of Mongolian History is located in Ulaanbaatar. It characterizes itself as "a cultural, scientific, and educational ...
includes exhibits from prehistoric times through the Mongol Empire to the present. The Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts has a large collection of Mongolian art, including works of the 17th-century sculptor/artist Zanabazar
Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, , , "High Saint Zanabazar"; 1635–1723 (born Eshidorji) was the sixteenth '' Jebtsundamba Khutuktu'' and the first ''Bogd Gegeen'' or supreme spiritual authority, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism ...
, as well as Mongolia's most famous painting, ''One Day In Mongolia'' by Baldugiin "Marzan" Sharav.
The Mongolian Theatre Museum presents the history of the performing arts in Mongolia. The city's former Lenin Museum announced plans in January 2013 to convert to a museum showcasing dinosaur and other prehistoric fossils.
Pre-1778 artifacts that have never left the city since its founding include the Vajradhara
Vajradhara (Sanskrit: वज्रधर. (Also, the name of Indra, because 'Vajra' means diamond, as well as the thunderbolt, anything hard more generally) Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང། rdo rje 'chang (Dorje Chang); zh, t=金 ...
statue made by Zanabazar himself in 1683 (the city's main deity, kept at the Vajradhara temple); an ornate throne presented to Zanabazar by the Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...
(before 1723); a sandalwood
Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...
hat presented to Zanabazar by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
(c. 1663); Zanabazar's large fur coat, also presented by the Kangxi Emperor; and a great number of original statues made by Zanabazar (e.g., the Green Tara).
The Military Museum of Mongolia features two permanent exhibition halls, commemorating the war history of the country from prehistoric times to the modern era. In the first hall, one can see various tools and weapons from the Paleolithic age to the times of the Manchu empire. The second hall showcases the modern history of the Mongolian military, from the Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan, , ; ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's ''de facto'' independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most importa ...
period (1911–24) up until Mongolia's recent military involvement in peacekeeping operations.
The city's museum offers a view of Ulaanbaatar's history through old maps and photos. Among the permanent items is a huge painting of the capital as it looked in 1912, showing major landmarks such as Gandan Monastery and the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan. Part of the museum is dedicated to special photo exhibits that change frequently. The Mongolian Railway History Museum is an open-air museum that displays six types of locomotives used during a 65-year period of Mongolian rail history.
The Puzzle Toys Museum displays a comprehensive collection of complex wooden toys that visitors can assemble.
The Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum – dedicated to those fallen under the Communist purge
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
that took the lives of over 32,000 statesmen, herders, scholars, politicians and lamas in the 1930s – told about one of the most tragic periods in Mongolia's 20th-century history.. The small building had fallen into serious disrepair and was demolished on 7 October 2019, despite public outcry in favor of renovation.
Togchin temple ruins - Zuunmod (Mongolia).jpg, Ruins of the Tsogchin Temple (1749) of Manjusri Monastery
Mañjuśrī Monastery ( mn, Манзуширын хийд; alternately translated as Manzushir; ) is a former gompa established in 1733 and destroyed by Mongolian communists in 1937. Its ruins are located approximately 15 kilometers (as the crow ...
Dambadarjaalin.jpg, A building of the Dambadarjaalin Monastery (1765) in Sukhbaatar District
UB-Gandan01.jpg, Vajradhara Temple (1841) in the center, Zuu Temple (1869) on the left, connected by a passage built in 1945–1946
Bogd Khan Palace 05.JPG, Winter residence of the Bogd Gegeen, built in 1903, designed under Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
ZanabazarMuseum.jpg, Zanabazar's Fine Arts Museum, built in 1905 by Russian merchant Gudvintsal as a trading shop
RussianBldgMgl.JPG, Ulaanbaatar History Museum, built in 1904 by a Buryat-Mongol merchant
Choijin Lama Temple Museum.jpg, Choijin Lama Temple complex, built in 1904–1908
GeserTemple.jpg, West Geser Temple, built in 1919–1920 by Guve Ovogt Zakhar
Handdorj's.jpg, Residence of Prince Chin Wang Khanddorj (Minister of Foreign Affairs), built in 1913.
, Holy Trinity Church, built near the old Russian Consulate of 1863
Sükhbaatar Square
Sükhbaatar Square
Sükhbaatar Square ( mn, Сүхбаатарын талбай, pronounced ''Sükhbaatariin Talbai'') is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The square was named for Mongolian's revolutionary hero Damdin Sükhbaatar after his death ...
, in the government district, is the center of Ulaanbaatar. The square is in area. In the middle of the square is a statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar
Damdin Sükhbaatar ( mn, Дамдины Сүхбаатар, Damdinii Sühbaatar, ; February 2, 1893 – February 20, 1923) was a Mongolian communist revolutionary, founding member of the Mongolian People's Party, and leader of the Mongolia ...
on horseback; the spot was chosen because that was where Sükhbaatar's horse had urinated (considered a good omen) on 8 July 1921 during a gathering of the Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
. On the north side of Sükhbaatar Square is the Mongolian Parliament building, featuring a large statue of Chinggis Khan
Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; ; xng, Temüjin, script=Latn; ., name=Temujin – August 25, 1227) was the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in history a ...
at the top of the front steps. Peace Avenue (''Enkh Taivny Urgon Chuloo''), the main thoroughfare through town, runs along the south side of the square.
Zaisan Memorial
The Zaisan Memorial
The Zaisan Memorial ( mn, Зайсан) is a memorial in the southern area of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar in the '' duureg'' (district) of Khan-Uul that honors allied Mongolian and Soviet soldiers killed in World War II. Located on a ...
, dedicated to Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
and Mongolian soldiers killed in World War II, sits on a hill south of the city. The Zaisan Memorial includes a Soviet tank paid for by the Mongolian people and a circular memorial painting which in the socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...
style depicts scenes of friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Mongolia. Visitors who make the long climb to the top are rewarded with a panoramic view of the whole city down in the valley.
National Sports Stadium
National Sports Stadium is the main sporting venue. The Naadam festival is held here every July.
Arts and culture
Ulaanbaatar features a mix of traditional and western-style theatres, offering world-class performances. Many of the traditional folklore bands play regularly around the world, including in New York, London and Tokyo. The Ulaanbaatar Opera House, situated in the center of the city, hosts concerts and musical performances
as well as opera and ballet performances, some in collaboration with world ballet houses such as the Boston Theatre.
The Mongolian State Grand National Orchestra was originally established during the reign of Kublai Khan, and reestablished in 1945. It has the largest orchestra of traditional instruments in the country, with a repertoire going beyond national music, encompassing dozens of international musical pieces.
The Tumen Ekh Ensemble comprises artists who perform all types of Mongolian song, music and dance. They play traditional instruments, including the morin khuur
The ''morin khuur'' ( mn, морин хуур, morin khuur), also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered ...
(horsehead fiddle), and perform Mongolian long song
The long song ( mn, , ''Urtyn duu'') is one of the central elements of the traditional music of Mongolia. This genre is called "Long song" not only because the songs are long, but also because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration ...
, epic and eulogy songs, a shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
ritual dance, an ancient palace dance and a Tsam mask dance.
The Morin Khuur Ensemble of Mongolia is part of the Mongolian State Philharmonic, based at Sükhbaatar Square. It is a popular ensemble featuring the national string instrument, the morin khuur, and performs various domestic and international works.
Parks
A number of nationally known parks and protected areas belong officially to the city. Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park ( mn, Горхи-Тэрэлж , ''creek-rhododendron'') is one of the national parks of Mongolia. The Terelj tourist zone has a number of "tourist camps" ( mn, жуулчны бааз, ''juulchny baaz''). It is connect ...
, a nature preserve with many tourist facilities, is approximately from Ulaanbaatar. It is accessible via paved road. The Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue is east of the city.
Bogd Khan mountain
The Bogd Khan Mountain ( Mongolian: Богд хан уул, ''lit. "Saint Khan Mountain"'') is a mountain in Mongolia that overlooks the nation's capital, Ulaanbaatar, from a height of to the south of the city.
World Heritage Status
The ...
is a strictly protected area with a length of and width of , covering an area of . Nature conservation dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when the Tooril Khan of the Mongolian Ancient Keraite
The Keraites (also ''Kerait, Kereit, Khereid''; ; ) were one of the five dominant Mongol or Turkic tribal confederations (khanates) in the Altai-Sayan region during the 12th century. They had converted to the Church of the East (Nestorianism) i ...
Aimag – who prohibited logging and hunting activities – claimed the Bogd Khan as a holy mountain.
The National Amusement Park ( mn, Үндэсний соёл амралтын хүрээлэн, translit=Ündesnii soyol amraltiin khüreelen) is an amusement park located in the downtown section, south of Shangri-La Hotel. It is also a popular place for young people to hang out. This small amusement park features rides, games and paddle boats. Its original Artificial Lake Castle
The Artificial Lake Castle was built in 1969, when the National Amusement Park was established in the centre of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar.
It is surrounded by an artificial lake and fortress walls in an eastern-Asian style. Inside the wa ...
was built in 1969.
The National Park of Mongolia ( mn, Үндэсний Цэцэрлэгт Хүрээлэн, translit=Ündesnii tsetserlegt khüreelen), in the southeastern outskirts of the city, opened in 2009 and has become a popular summer destination for UB residents. It has a total area of 55 hectares, with over 100,000 trees planted. The park is geared towards becoming an educational center for healthy, responsible living as well as environmental education.
Religion
Ulaanbaatar has a long tradition of Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
, having been initially founded and settled as a monastic center. Prominent places of worship in the city include the Gandantegchinlen Monastery
The Gandantegchinlen Monastery ( mn, Гандантэгчинлэн хийд, ''Gandantegchinlen khiid'', short name: Gandan mn, Гандан) is a Mongolian Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar that has been restored and r ...
and Choijin Lama Temple. In modern times, it has become a multifaith center, having added multiple Christian churches (such as the Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
Holy Trinity Church, as well as Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, the official episcopal see of the Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar
The Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar ( la, Praefectura Apostolica Ulaanbaatarensis) is a Roman Catholic Latin apostolic prefecture (pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction) located in Mongolia, with its territory consisting of the entire country.
...
).
According to the 2020 national census, 46.3% of the population over 15 years of age identified as being irreligious, while 53.7% identified as being religious, a decrease of 7.7 percentage points in religiosity
In sociology, the concept of religiosity has proven difficult to define. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests: "Religiousness; religious feeling or belief. ..Affected or excessive religiousness". Different scholars have seen this concept as ...
since the 2010 census.
Of the people identifying as religious, responses included Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
(89.1%), Shamanism (5.4%), Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(3.3%), and Islam (0.9%).
Municipal symbols
The official symbol of Ulaanbaatar is the , a mythical bird in both Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
scriptures called Khan Garuda or ''Khangar'd'' ( mn, Хангарьд) by Mongols.
City emblem and flag
The appears on Ulaanbaatar's emblem
An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint.
Emblems vs. symbols
Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...
. In its right hand is a key, a symbol of prosperity and openness, and in its left is a lotus flower, a symbol of peace, equality and purity. In its talons it is holding a snake, a symbol of evil of which it is intolerant. On the 's forehead is the soyombo symbol
The ''Soyombo'' symbol (; mn, Соёмбо, ; from sa, svayambhu) is a special character in the Soyombo alphabet invented by Zanabazar in 1686. The name "Soyombo" is derived from Sanskrit ''svayambhu'' "self-created". It serves as a national ...
, which is featured on the flag of Mongolia. The city's flag is sky blue with the arms in the center.
Education
Ulaanbaatar is home to most of Mongolia's major universities, among them the National University of Mongolia
The National University of Mongolia ( mn, Монгол Улсын Их Сургууль, ''Mongol Ulsyn Ikh Surguuli'', abbreviated ''NUM'' or ''MUIS'') is a public university primarily located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Established in 1942, it is ...
, Mongolian University of Science and Technology
The Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST; mn, Шинжлэх Ухаан, Технологийн Их Сургууль) was founded in 1959 as a part of the National University of Mongolia and started training the Industrial Econo ...
, Mongolian State University of Agriculture
The Mongolian University of Life Sciences ( mn, Хөдөө аж ахуйн их сургууль, ''lit.'' ''University of Agriculture'') is a national university of Mongolia, with the main branch situated in the capital of Ulaanbaatar. It lies in ...
, Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences
The Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences in Ulaanbaatar is a public higher education institution established in 1942 founded by a polish physician Filip Jan Ratajczak. It has branch campuses in Darkhan-Uul, Sainshand, and Gobi-Alt ...
, Mongolian State University of Education
Mongolian National University of Education or MNUE (Mongolian: Монгол Улсын Боловсролын Их Сургууль) is a public university located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The university was established in 1951.
History
Mongoli ...
, and the Mongolian University of Art and Culture, and the University of Finance and Economics.
The American School of Ulaanbaatar
The American School of Ulaanbaatar (ASU) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is a private international school, which offers an educational program from Pre-kindergarten to Grade 12 for students of all nationalities. As of 2020, enrollment is at 395 in the ...
and the International School of Ulaanbaatar
The International School of Ulaanbaatar, usually referred to as ISU, or Улаанбаатар дахь Олон Улсын Дунд Сургууль(in Mongolian Language), in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, is a private, coeducational day school, which o ...
are examples of Western-style K-12 education in English for Mongolian nationals and foreign residents.
Libraries
National Library
The National Library of Mongolia is located in Ulaanbaatar and includes an extensive historical collection, items in non-Mongolian languages and a special children's collection.
Public libraries
The Metropolitan Central Library of Ulaanbaatar, sometimes also referred to as the Ulaanbaatar Public Library, is a public library with a collection of about 500,000 items. It has 232,097 annual users and a total of 497,298 loans per year. It does charge users a registration fee of 3800 to 4250 tugrik, or about US$3.29 to 3.68. The fees may be the result of operating on a budget under $176,000 per year. They also host websites on classical and modern Mongolian literature
Mongolian literature has been greatly influenced by its nomadic oral traditions. The "three peaks" of Mongol literature, ''The Secret History of the Mongols'', ''Epic of King Gesar'' and '' Epic of Jangar'', all reflect the age-long tradition of h ...
and food, in addition to providing free internet access.
In 1986, the Ulaanbaatar government created a centralized system for all public libraries in the city, known as the Metropolitan Library System of Ulaanbaatar (MLSU). This system coordinates management, acquisitions, finances and policy among public libraries in the capital, in addition to providing support to school and children's libraries. Other than the Metropolitan Central Library, the MLSU has four branch libraries. They are in the Chingeltei District (established in 1946), in the Han-Uul District (established in 1948), in the Bayanzurkh District (established in 1968) and in the Songino-Hairkhan District (established in 1991). There is also a Children's Central Library, which was established in 1979.
University libraries
* Library of Mongolian State University of Education
* Library of the Academy of Management
* Library of the National University of Mongolia
* Institutes of the Academy of Sciences (3 department libraries)
* Library of the Institute of Language and Literature
* Library of the Institute of History
* Library of the Institute of Finance and Economics
* Library of the National University of Mongolia
* Library of the Agriculture University
Digital libraries
The International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) is an organization that publishes numerous children's books in different languages on the web in child-friendly formats. In 2006 they began service in Mongolia and have made efforts to provide access to the library in rural areas. The ICDL effort in Mongolia is part of a larger project funded by the World Bank and administered by the Mongolian Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, called the Rural Education And Development Project (READ).
Since Mongolia lacks a publishing industry
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
, and few children's books, the idea has been to "spur the publishing industry to create 200 new children's books for classroom libraries in grades 1–5." After these books were published and distributed to teachers they were also published online with the rest of the ICDL collection. While a significant portion of this project is supported by outside sources, an important component is to include training of Mongolian staff to make it continue in an effective way.
The Press Institute in Ulaanbaatar oversees the Digital Archive of Mongolian Newspapers. It is a collection of 45 newspaper titles with a particular focus on the years after the fall of communism in Mongolia. The project was supported by the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
's Endangered Archives Programme
The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) is a funding programme and digital archive run by the British Library in London. It has the purpose of preserving cultural heritage where resources may be limited. Each year EAP awards grants to researchers ...
. The Metropolitan Central Library in Ulaanbaatar maintains a digital monthly news archive.
Special libraries
An important resource for academics is the American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS), also based in Ulaanbaatar. Its goal is to facilitate research between Mongolia and the rest of the world and to foster academic partnerships. To help achieve this end, it operates a research library with a reading room and computers for Internet access. ACMS has 1,500 volumes related to Mongolia in numerous languages that may be borrowed with a deposit. It also hosts an online library that includes special reference resources and access to digital databases, including a digital book collection.
There is a Speaking Library at School #116 for the visually impaired, funded by the Zorig Foundation, and the collection is largely based on materials donated by Mongolian National Radio. "A sizable collection of literature, know-how topics, training materials, music, plays, science broadcasts are now available to the visually impaired at the school."
The Mongolia-Japan Center for Human Resources Development maintains a library in Ulaanbaatar consisting of about 7,800 items. The materials in the collection have a strong focus on both aiding Mongolians studying Japanese and books in Japanese about Mongolia. It includes a number of periodicals, textbooks, dictionaries and audio-visual materials. Access to the collection does require payment of a 500 Tugrug fee, though materials are available for loan. They also provide audio-visual equipment for collection use and internet access for an hourly fee. There is an information retrieval reference service for questions that cannot be answered by their collection.
Archives
There is a manuscript collection at the Danzan Ravjaa Museum of theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
, poetic
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...
, medicinal
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
, astrological
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
and theatrical
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
works. It consists of literature written and collected by the monk Danzan Ravjaa, who is famous for his poetry.
The British Library's Endangered Archives Programme
The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) is a funding programme and digital archive run by the British Library in London. It has the purpose of preserving cultural heritage where resources may be limited. Each year EAP awards grants to researchers ...
funded a project to take digital images of unique literature in the collection; however, it is not clear where the images are stored today.
Sports
Ulaanbaatar hosted the official 2019 FIBA 3x3 Under-18 World Cup
The FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup is an under-18 basketball tournament run by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) since 2011. The tournament was known as the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships until the 2016 edition.
History
The event was held f ...
where Mongolia's national Under-18 3x3 team
The Mongolia men's national 3x3 team is a national basketball team of Mongolia, administered by the Mongolian Basketball Association. It represents the country in international 3x3 (3 against 3) basketball competitions.
Even though Mongolia is on ...
finished 6th out of 20.
Ulaanbaatar City FC
Ulaanbaatar City is a professional football club from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. They currently play in the Mongolian National Premier League, the highest level of football in Mongolia.
History
The club was founded on 19 March 2016 with club owner, ...
is a professional football club based in the city and currently competes in Mongolian National Premier League
The Mongolian National Premier League ( Mongolian: ''Монголын Үндэсний Дээд Лиг''), also known as the Hisense Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier professional football league of Mongolia. It is contested ...
.
Transport
Ulaanbaatar is served by the Chinggis Khaan International Airport
Chinggis Khaan International Airport,, also referred to as New Ulaanbaatar International Airport, , is an international airport located in the Khöshig Valley of Sergelen, Töv, Mongolia, 52 km south of the capital Ulaanbaatar and 20& ...
, located south of the city which functions as the country's main air hub. It replaced the former Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport
Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport,, formerly called Chinggis Khaan International Airport, from 2005 to 2020 , is a semi-operational international airport serving Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, situated southwest of the capital. Largely replaced b ...
in 2021.
Flights to Ulaanbaatar are available from Moscow, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...
, Irkutsk, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Bishkek and Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
.
There are rail connections to the Trans-Siberian railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
via Naushki and to the Chinese railway system via Jining
Jining () is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the northwest and south respectively. Jinin ...
. Ulaanbaatar is connected by road to most of the major towns in Mongolia, but most roads in Mongolia are unpaved and unmarked, and road travel can be difficult. Even within the city, not all roads are paved and some of the ones that are paved are not in good condition.
Existing plans to improve transportation include a subway system, several major road projects such as a highway to link Ulaanbaatar to the regions of Altanbulag and Zamyn Uud, plans to upgrade existing regional airports and roadways, and Mongolian Railway projects that will connect cities and mines.
The national and municipal governments regulate a system of private transit providers which operate bus lines around the city. There is the Ulaanbaatar Railbus The Ulaanbaatar Railbus is a Rail transport in Mongolia, rail-based public transit system in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, Ulaanbaatar.
Route
The rail route has one line, and starts at the west side of the capital at the Tolgoit Station, th ...
, and also the Ulaanbaatar trolleybus system. A secondary transit system of privately owned microbuses (passenger vans) operates alongside these bus lines. Additionally, Ulaanbaatar has over 4000 taxis. The capital has of road, of which 76.5 are paved.
Air pollution
Air pollution is a serious problem in Ulaanbaatar, especially in winter. Concentrations of certain types of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) regularly exceed WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
recommended maximum levels by more than a dozen times. They also exceed the concentrations measured in northern Chinese industrial cities. During the winter months, smoke regularly obscures vision and can even lead to problems with air traffic at the local airport.
Sources of the pollution are mainly the simple stoves used for heating and cooking in the city's ger districts, but also the local coal-fueled power plants. The problem is compounded by Ulaanbaatar's location in a valley between relatively high mountains, which shield the city from the winter winds and thus obstruct air circulation.
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Ulaanbaatar is twinned with:
*Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
, Turkey
*Astana
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...
, Kazakhstan
*Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
, Thailand
*Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, China
*Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
, Germany
*Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, United States
*Elista
Elista (russian: Элиста́, (common during the Soviet era) or (most common pronunciation used after 1992 and in Kalmykia itself);"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. ...
, Russia
*Gaziantep
Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...
, Turkey
*Haikou
Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the ...
, China
* Hohhot, China
* Incheon, South Korea
* Irkutsk, Russia
*Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...
, Russia
*Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...
, Russia
*Maardu
Maardu (german: Maart) is a town and a municipality in Harju County, Estonia. It is part of Tallinn metropolitan area. The town covers an area of 22.76 km² and has a population of 16,170 (as of 1 January 2021).
The Port of Muuga, ...
, Estonia
*Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
, Russia
* Novosibirsk, Russia
*Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...
, North Korea
*Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, South Korea
* Strelcha, Bulgaria
*Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
, Taiwan
*Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
, China
*Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...
, Russia
*Yinchuan
Yinchuan (, ; ) is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 Chinese census, and its buil ...
, China
Proximity to nearby urban centers abroad
Ulaanbaatar has close ties to cities like Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
( from UB), Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
( from UB), Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
( from UB) and Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
( from UB). The Zamyn Uud-Erenhot
Erenhot ( mn, ; , commonly shortened to Ereen or Erlian) is a county-level city of the Xilin Gol League, in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, located in the Gobi Desert along the Sino-Mongolian border, across from the Mongolian town of Za ...
and Altanbulag-Kyakhta
Kyakhta (russian: Кя́хта, ; bua, Хяагта, Khiaagta, ; mn, Хиагт, Hiagt, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kyakhtinsky District in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Mongolia–Rus ...
borders are the only places where sustained interaction occurs between Mongolia and its neighbors. Other ports are much smaller. For now Ulaanbaatar remains the main, and almost only, point of contact between Mongolia and its neighbors. Beijing remains the closest global city to Ulaanbaatar (). The UB-Peking corridor is served by busy air, rail and road links.
Appearances in fiction
In the 1959 novel ''Alas, Babylon
''Alas, Babylon'' is a 1959 novel by American writer Pat Frank (the pen name of Harry Hart Frank). It was one of the first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age and has remained popular more than half a century after it was first published, con ...
'' by Pat Frank, the pen name of Harry Hart Frank, the city was a relocation site for the Soviet leadership. In the novel it had a medium-wave station for communications.
Notes
References
Further reading
* Lattimore, Owen
"Communism, Mongolian Brand"
''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', September 1962. A unique, detailed historical snapshot of life in Mongolia at the height of the Cold War. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
External links
Ulaanbaatar City Hall
(Mongolia)
Ulaanbaatar Travel Guide
General information about Ulaanbaatar, up-to-date
from A. M. Pozdneyev's ''Mongolia and the Mongols''
{{Authority control
Capitals in Asia
Populated places established in 1639
Subdivisions of Mongolia
Articles containing video clips
1639 establishments in Asia