Gandantegchinlen Monastery

Gandan was founded in 1809 and is the centre of Mongolian Buddhism; closed in 1939, it reopened in 1944 and until 1989 was the only active monastery in the country. Its landmark is the Megjid Janraisig temple with a standing statue of Avalokiteshvara twenty-six metres high, gilded and covered in precious stones; the original was removed in 1938 and the present figure was rebuilt in the 1990s with public donations. Around it are prayer halls, a monastic university where several hundred monks study, rows of prayer wheels, and a courtyard full of pigeons that visitors feed. Morning ceremonies with chanting and horns are open to visitors who come early, and the whole complex sits on a hill above the city with the modern skyline behind it.

History

The second Jebtsundamba Khutuktu set up a Buddhist school for the monks of Khüree in the early 18th century. On a hill west of the town the Shar Temple was built in 1809 and an assembly hall in 1824, and the fifth Jebtsundamba Khutuktu built a palace named Gandantegchinlen there between 1834 and 1838, which gave the monastery its name; the Ochirdari Temple of 1840 holds a statue made by Zanabazar in 1683 (Wikipedia, Gandantegchinlen Monastery).

What you'll find

• Megjid Janraisig - the twenty-six metre gilded standing Buddha.
• Morning ceremonies - chanting and horns in the prayer halls.
• The monastic university - resident monks in study and debate.
• Prayer wheels and courtyards - the working religious life of the complex.

When to go

Year-round; mornings, roughly nine to eleven, are when ceremonies run and the complex is at its most alive. Winter is bitterly cold in the open courtyards. Lunar new year brings very large crowds.

Practical notes

Photography inside the main temple is charged and restricted in places. The complex mixes genuine religious activity with tourist traffic, and the pigeon-feeding and souvenir stalls sit oddly alongside prayer. Modest dress is expected. It is compact and two hours covers it.

Nearby

Sukhbaatar square and the national museums lie east in the centre.

Key facts