NORTH PART OF MONGOLIA

AMARBAYASGALANT MONASTERY

HOW TO GET: by jeep 370 km and 9 hours drive
Amarbayasgalant Monastery, one of the most well known and largest monasteries of Mongolia, is located in Iven Gol River valley on the foot of Burenkhan mountain in Baruunburen village of Selenge province. This Iven Gol river basin area is full of Turkic-era graves of various geometric shapes marked out in large boulders.

The complex of Amarbayasgalant Monastery was built during 1727-1736, by order of Manju emperor Enkh- Amgalan Khan, to cherish and give respect to the Undur Geghen Zanabazar, the first Bogd of Mongolia, his skills, wisdom, intellect and accomplishments. 3730 kg of silver from the state fund were used to build a magnificently styled place for Buddha teaching and practice in honor of Zanabazar.

Originally, Amarbayasgalant Monastery consisted of over 40 temples built on the special terrace, surrounded by a wall of 207x175 meters. By 1937 a fearsome repression covered Amarbayasgalant Monastery and all the highly trained knowledgeable monks were executed. Also huge numbers of rare religious relics, books, sutras, thangkas and Buddhas which had been collected for 200 years, were destroyed completely.

About 28 temples now remain undamaged and they have been under State protection since 1944. Then in 1990 communism had fallen and locla people had initiated to restore the Monastery of Tranquial Felicity and nowadays stands strong on it's remarkable construction, as on it's 300 year history.

The monastery has a symmetrical construction. The size of its Tsogchin (Main) temple is 32x32 m. Its construction expresses the planning features of the Mongolian national architecture and engineering solutions are very original. One of the interesting solutions is routing of roof water through the inside of four columns, under the floor, through stone grooves and away from the Tsogchin temple.

Visitors especially enjoy the magnificent art and architectural construction. Since then the monastery of the Undur Geghen was a great source of Dharma teaching and accomplishment with over six thousand novices and ordained monks who followed the rules of Lord Buddha`s Vinaya, combining the Three Basket in full harmony with the Three Higher Trainings.

The beauty, decorations and construction of the monastery have made it one of the most magnificent architectural monuments not only in Mongolia, but also in Asia.