Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts

Zanabazar, born in 1635, was the first Bogd Gegeen and a sculptor of the first rank, and his gilt bronzes of Tara and the Dhyani Buddhas are the reason this museum matters: the modelling is unmistakably his, calm and precise, and several of the finest surviving pieces are here. Around them the collection covers Mongolian religious and folk art broadly: thangkas painted and appliquéd, some very large, tsam masks, ritual objects, and the extraordinary works of Baldugiin Sharav, whose panoramic paintings of Mongolian life, particularly One Day in Mongolia, pack hundreds of small scenes of herding, ceremony, argument and play into a single canvas and reward long looking. The building is an old merchant house and the display is traditional, but the objects carry it entirely.

History

The building was put up by a Russian merchant in 1905 and used as a bank. The museum opened on 23 July 1966, was named after Zanabazar in 1995, and in 2015 joined the Google Arts & Culture platform (Wikipedia, Fine Arts Zanabazar Museum).

What's there

• Zanabazar bronzes - the Tara and Buddha figures by Mongolia's great sculptor.
• Appliqué thangkas - large stitched religious images.
• Sharav's paintings - One Day in Mongolia and other panoramic works.
• Tsam masks and ritual objects - the wider Buddhist art collection.

When to go

Year-round; indoors and a good winter option. Closed one day a week. Mornings are quiet. Two hours is enough, though the Sharav paintings absorb time if you let them.

What to expect

The building is old and the display cases dated, with limited lighting on some pieces. Photography is charged separately. English labelling is uneven. It is small and can be done quickly, but the quality of the objects is far above the presentation.

Nearby

Sukhbaatar square and the national museums are a short walk east.

Key facts