Located in Kharkhorin, Övörkhangai Province, it is part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site.

[2] Abtai Sain Khan, ruler of the Khalkha Mongols and grandfather of Zanabazar, the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, ordered construction of the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585 after his meeting with the 3rd Dalai Lama and the declaration of Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of Mongolia.

[4] Planners attempted to create a surrounding wall that resembled a Tibetan Buddhist rosary featuring 108 stupas (108 being a sacred number in Buddhism),[5] but this objective was probably never achieved.

[7] It was According to tradition, in 1745, a local Buddhist disciple named Bunia made several unsuccessful attempts to fly with a device he invented which was similar to a parachute.

After the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, the monastery was turned over to the lamas and Erdene Zuu again became a place of worship.