BALDAN BEREEVEN MONASTERY

Founded in 1654 by the Tsevendorj lama, a pupil of Zanabazar, the Baldan Bereeven monastery was intended to accommodate Mongolian pilgrims. Built of granite stone in 1777, the main temple featured a 3-metre-high, 2-metre-wide statue of Manzshir Buddha, carved into the red granite cliff to the monastery's southeast. The monastery had three storeys, supported by 32 granite columns.

In the decades following its foundation, the monastery grew in importance to become one of the most important in Mongolia. By 1850, some 8,000 monks were living in the complex, which comprised over twenty temples. Around 1900, an epidemic caused the death of more than half the monastic community, and in 1937, the monastery and its complex were finally destroyed by the Soviets.

Long undergoing restoration thanks to an international aid program, the ruins are now once again accessible. They include some fifty temples, stuppas and other religious buildings. Three temples have been completely and magnificently restored. The complex is surrounded by a sumptuous wilderness of four sacred mountains, all part of the Khentii range. The monastery itself backs onto a cliff on which images of Buddha, mantras and a Soyombo, the symbol found on the Mongolian flag, have been carved.