Erdene Zuu Monastery

Although it is not Mongolia’s oldest Buddhist monastery, Erdene Zuu was for many centuries the most important after the rise of the Genghis Khan Dynasty. Originally built in the 13th century by Sakya School masters who became the official Mongol court tutors after visits by Sakya Pandita and Chogyal Pakpa to the courts of Godan and Kublai Khan when Buddhism became the Mongol Empire’s national religion, it stood as the crown jewel of the ancient city of Karakorum, which Genghis Khan had built as the capital of his newly established empire. It is part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site.

After the Mongol colonization of China came to an end and the Ming army pushed the Mongols back north, the monastery, along with much of Karakorum, was destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1585 by Abtai Sain Khan after Mongolia adopted Buddhism as its official religion. The structure uses stones from the remains of Karakorum. It is enclosed by a wall with 108 stupas, the number 108 being a Buddhist sacred number and the number of beads in a Buddhist rosary. The monastery was destroyed by conflict in the 1680s, but it was restored in the 18th century and had 62 temples by 1872.

The monastery was destroyed in 1939 by Communist leader Khorloogiin Choibalsan as part of a purge that razed hundreds of monasteries in Mongolia and slaughtered over ten thousand monks. The external wall with the stupas and three minor temples remains; the temples were turned into museums in 1947. According to legend, this section of the monastery was spared destruction due to Joseph Stalin’s pressure. According to one researcher, in 1944, it was US President Franklin D. Roosevelt who asked Stalin to spare the monastery.

Erdene Zuu was only allowed to serve as a museum; Mongolia’s only functioning monastery was the Gandantegchinlen Khiid monastery in Ulaanbaatar. The monastery was handed over to the lamas after the fall of Communism in Mongolia in 1990, and Erdene Zuu was once again a place of devotion. Erdene Zuu is still a functioning Buddhist monastery as well as a tourist-friendly museum.

A stone phallus lies on a hill outside the monastery. The phallus is claimed to keep the monks’ sexual urges in check and promote good behavior.
It is part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site.