Gandantegchinlen Monastery, Ulaanbaatar
The great place of complete joy – the monastery Stalin’s purges spared as a showpiece, sheltering a 26-metre golden Buddha rebuilt by popular subscription.
At a glance
- Type
- Buddhist monastery
- Period
- 1838; Migjid Janraisig temple 1913
- Style
- Mongolian-Tibetan Buddhist
- Location
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Coordinates
- 47.9219, 106.8944
- Founder
- Fifth Jebtsundamba Khutuktu
Overview
Gandantegchinlen – the Great Place of Complete Joy – is Mongolia’s principal monastery, a walled precinct of white temples with Tibetan trapezoid windows and Chinese roofs on the hill above Ulaanbaatar. Its towering Migjid Janraisig temple holds the 26-metre gilded statue of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, around whom the nation’s modern Buddhist revival gathered.
History
The communist purges of 1937-39 destroyed nearly 800 Mongolian monasteries and killed tens of thousands of monks; Gandan alone reopened in 1944 as a token of religious tolerance for foreign display. The great statue, melted by the Soviets reputedly for bullets, was rebuilt in 1996 with donations of gold and jewels from across post-communist Mongolia – 20 tonnes of copper, gilded, packed with sutras and medicinal herbs. Today 600 monks study in its colleges.
Architecture and Design
The Janraisig temple’s white tower in Tibetan fortress style, begun 1911 under the Bogd Khan’s theocracy, dominates the complex of assembly halls, stupas, and the open-air prayer wheels circled by pilgrims. Pigeons swirl over the ceremonial gate where the morning chanting draws worshippers in del robes.
Cultural significance
Gandan is the heart of Mongolian Buddhism’s survival and rebirth – the link from the theocratic Bogd Khan state through the dark decades to the open faith of democratic Mongolia. The Dalai Lama’s visits and the statue’s reconstruction mark it as the nation’s spiritual axis.
Visiting today
The grounds open daily from early morning – chanting around 9 AM is the time to come; a small ticket admits to the great statue’s temple. Modest dress and clockwise circulation are asked.
Getting there
The monastery hill rises west of Sukhbaatar Square, 15 minutes by taxi or a half-hour walk through the old ger districts.
Sources and resources
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