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Central Mongolia, Day Seven

In 1204 Mongolia was a fractured region of warring tribes. Eight of these tribes united at this time against a vastly outnumbered leader named Temurjin at the battle of Nahu-Gun Mountain. This leader would prevail and two years later receive the title Chinggis Khaan, the uniter of the Mongol hordes and future head of the largest empire the world would ever know. In 1220 he established the capital at Kharakhorum, the town we woke up in today.

The ancient city is completely gone now. Whatever remnants that remained after the Ming Chinese sacked the city were salvaged to build the Erdene Zuu Monastery in 1586. The new town of Kharakhorum sits just to the south of the monastery and looks like any other rural Mongolian village, a series of wood fenced rows spilling out across the valley floor.
In the capital’s glory days, before Kublai Khaan established the Yuan dynasty in Beijing, the city was one of the world’s finest. Only Ankor Wat in Cambodia was more populace at the time, and most archaeologists put the population of Kharakhorum between 100,000-200,000 people. The site was rediscovered in 1948-49 and teams of German and Japanese archaeologists have been slowly excavating the site since the late 90s. They’ve made some incredible discoveries. The Mongols and Great Khaans have most often been noted for their barbarism and cruelty by Western historians. However, within the old city walls the teams have excavated a Christian church, two Mosques, and twelve Buddhist temples. These discoveries suggest a religious tolerance and sensitivity that I hope someday helps to paint the Mongols in a better light. Even Chinggis himself has only recently been credited for his skilled diplomacy and shrewd political skills. He wasn’t the madman I imagined as a child.
The monastery is the main attraction now, historically one of Asia’s most important Buddhist sanctuaries. Lining the walls are 108 stuppas that overlook four main buildings. Statues of the young, middle-aged, and old Buddha Shakyamuni (under the Bodhi tree) are housed in the three buildings and the last is the active monastery. Many of the temples were destroyed in the 1930s by the communists during Stalin’s purges and it’s only by a stroke of luck that the whole place didn’t meet the same fate. Under communist rule the walls were used to stable livestock.  I highly recommend visiting the National History Museum in Ulaan Baatar before or soon after seeing Kharakhorum.  It has an excellent German designed model of the ancient city which will definitely heighten your experience.
We start our long journey back to Ulaan Baatar at noon, a bumpy ride on and off road, past the rolling hills and wandering herds that I’ve come to love this week. What an amazing trip.



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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 2:02 am and is filed under Eurasia: Marco Polo-in' it, Mongolia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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