Architecture of Mongolia

The architecture of Mongolia is largely based on traditional dwellings, such as the yurt (Mongolian: гэр, ger) and the tent.

Mongolian architects designed their temples with six and twelve angles and pyramidal roofs approximating the yurt's round shape.

[1] Trellis walls, roof poles and layers of felt were eventually replaced by stone, brick beams and planks.

The Uyghur Khaganate which succeeded the Turks centred on the city of Kara Balgasun, founded during the early eighth century.

A large craft trading district existed in the city,[5] whose architecture was influenced by Sogdian and Chinese traditions.

Another significant Kidan city was Bars-Hot in the Kherlen River valley, which covered an area of 290 hectares (720 acres).

[1] The yurt, traditional dwelling of Mongolian nomads, is a circular structure supported by a collapsible wooden frame and covered with wool felt.

Hurees were replaced by an ail (neighbourhood) arrangement in the 13th and 14th centuries during the Mongol Khanate and the end of internal strife.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, enclosed stoves with chimneys (zuuh) were introduced; this permitted a simpler design, with a lower silhouette.

[citation needed] Tents played a role in the development of Mongolian architecture, and these temporary shelters were frequently used under pastoral conditions.

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine's book, Ystoria Mongalorum (History of the Mongols), reported that during the 1246 enthronement ceremony for Guyuk Khaan a tent with a capacity of 2,000 people was erected on the Tamir River.

Among the first Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia during this period was temple Thegchen Chonchor Ling in Khökh Nuur, built by Altan Khan to commemorate his 1577 meeting with third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso.

[13] Zanabazar, the first Bogd Gegeen of the Khalkha Mongols, designed many temples and monasteries in traditional Mongolian style and supervised their construction.

The statue of the boddhisattva, believed to opens the eyes of wisdom in sentient beings, symbolised the Mongolian people's step into modern civilisation.

Another example of the combining of Asian and Russian styles is the residence of Khanddorji Wang, a leader of the Mongolian Revolution of 1911.

[14] Mongolian architecture was dictated by economy and mass production during the Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev eras in the Soviet Union.

The older districts south of the Middle River (Dund gol) and the Peace Bridge were built by Chinese workers.

The architecture of the 1960s and 1970s included monotonous four-, five- and nine-storey apartment blocks with simple rectangular shapes, dictated by the need for cheap, speedy construction.

Apartment districts were built around Ulaanbaatar, including south of the Dund gol river, often by Soviet soldiers.

The housing consists of nine-storey apartment blocks and five V-shaped 12-storey buildings on Ayush Street, similar to Kalinin Avenue in the centre of Moscow.

The monotony of urban architecture was criticised at four successive congresses of the Mongolian Association of Architects beginning in 1972, but no significant improvement was achieved.

The Ethnographical Museum, in the centre of Ulaanbaatar's amusement park, was designed as a Mongolian castle surrounded by walls on an island in an artificial lake.

The winter house of the international children's Nairamdal camp was designed as an ocean liner travelling in a sea of mountains.

Under socialism the state made little or no effort (except for bathhouses) to develop the yurt districts, which became Mongolian shanty towns.

Perestroika and the transition to democracy induced interest in traditional history and culture and free thinking in the arts and architecture.

Nearly the entire population of Mongolia donated toward repairs to the Chenrezig temple in the Gandan Tegchinling monastery and the re-casting of the statue of Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

[citation needed] A group of artists and architects led by the actor Bold, an enthusiast for traditional architecture, developed a project to make Ulaanbaatar an Asian city.

Although the project ended at the beginning of the 1998 Russian financial crisis, Mongolia's Buddhist sangha continued restoring and founding monasteries.

A high-rise tower, the other building, faces the back street; a similar principle was used in the design of the previous period's Palace of Culture.

Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj appointed a group of professionals to develop a project for a new city at Karakorum.