Amarbayasgalant Monastery

Amarbayasgalant was built between 1727 and 1736 on the order of the Qing emperor as a resting place for the remains of Zanabazar, the first Bogd Gegeen and the great figure of Mongolian Buddhist art, and its architecture reflects that patronage: symmetrical courtyards, tiled roofs and halls in Chinese style rather than the Tibetan forms common elsewhere in Mongolia. It escaped the worst of the twentieth-century destruction that levelled most Mongolian monasteries, losing many buildings but keeping around twenty-eight of the originals, and restoration since the 1990s has brought monks back and reopened the main halls. The setting is the Iven valley in the Selenge hills, green and quiet, with a large modern Buddha statue on the slope above and almost nothing else for many kilometres. Morning prayers in the main temple are open to visitors who arrive early.

What you actually see

• The symmetrical courtyards - Chinese-influenced halls on a formal axis.
• Surviving original buildings - some twenty-eight from the 1730s complex.
• Morning prayers - monks chanting in the main temple, open to visitors.
• The valley setting - green hills with a hillside Buddha above.

When to go

May to September for the road, which is rough and can be difficult in wet weather; winter visits are possible but the complex is bitterly cold. Early morning for prayers, which begin around nine. Summer weekends bring Mongolian visitors.

Honest expectations

The access road from the highway is rough and slow. Facilities are a couple of ger camps and little else. Photography inside the temples is restricted or charged. Many buildings remain unrestored. The site is quiet, which is its strength, but there is little to do beyond the monastery itself.

Nearby

Darkhan lies east; Ulaanbaatar is about six hours south.