Amarbayasgalant Monastery

In a broad, empty valley of northern Mongolia, framed by grassy hills and larch-covered ridges, a walled compound of tiled roofs appears with no town anywhere around it. Amarbayasgalant, whose name means roughly "tranquil joy", is one of the three largest Buddhist monastic centres in the country and, unlike most of the others, it has kept the coherent look of an 18th-century imperial foundation.

The monastery was ordered by the Qing Yongzheng Emperor and completed under his successor Qianlong, as a memorial and final resting place for Zanabazar (1635–1723), the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism among the Khalkha Mongols and a towering figure of Mongolian art. Construction began in 1727 and the core was completed by 1736; Zanabazar's remains were brought here in 1779. Local tradition tells that the search party sent to find a site came upon two boys, Amur and Bayasgalant, playing on the steppe, and named the monastery after them; a more prosaic explanation is that the site was where Zanabazar's travelling camp-monastery stood when he died. The complex is dedicated to Maitreya, the Buddha of the future.

Architecturally it is a remarkably unified ensemble. The style is essentially Chinese, with Mongol and Tibetan touches, and the layout is strictly symmetrical: the principal halls follow one another along a north–south axis, with secondary buildings arranged in parallel on either side, in a manner often compared with the Yonghegong, the Yongzheng Emperor's former palace in Beijing that became a lamasery. Originally there were more than forty temples, and by the early 20th century several thousand monks lived here.

During the anti-religious purges of 1937 most Mongolian monasteries were destroyed and many monks were killed. Amarbayasgalant lost its outbuildings and much of its treasury, but the central buildings survived, and some thangkas and statues were hidden away by the community. Twenty-eight temples remain. Restoration began in 1988 with support from UNESCO and private donors, and the monastery once again houses a community of monks.

Getting there

The monastery lies in the Iven valley near the Selenge River, in Baruunbüren District of Selenge Province. The nearest city is Darkhan, about 60 km away in a straight line, and Erdenet lies about 120 km to the southwest. The nearest airport is Bulgan Airport (UGA), about 136 km away; Mongolia's main international gateway is Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN) near Ulaanbaatar.