Ivolginsky Datsan

Ivolginsky was founded in 1945, when the Soviet state permitted one Buddhist monastery to reopen after having closed every other one in the country, and it became the seat of Buddhism in Russia. The site now holds several temples, a university for monks, stupas, prayer wheels and a greenhouse for a sacred bodhi tree, with wooden and painted buildings in Tibetan and Buryat forms spread across flat land under the hills. Its best known feature is the body of Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, head of Buryat Buddhism until 1927, who according to the tradition entered meditation and died sitting; he was buried in that position, exhumed in 2002 as he had instructed, and found in a state that has been described and argued about since. He is now kept in a temple and shown to visitors on several days a year. Buryat Buddhism was effectively destroyed in the 1930s, and everything here dates from the revival.

What you actually see

• The 1945 foundation - the one monastery the Soviet state allowed to reopen.
• Itigelov - the lama who died seated in 1927 and was exhumed in 2002.
• The temple complex - several halls, stupas and prayer wheels across a flat site.
• The monks' university - the training institution attached to the datsan.

When to go

May to September; winter here is severe. Two to three hours. Itigelov is displayed only on certain festival days.

Honest expectations

Walk clockwise, do not point your feet at images, and follow the posted rules; photography is restricted. The body of Itigelov is shown only a handful of days a year, and otherwise the temple holding it is closed. The buildings are modern. The site can be crowded on festival days.

Nearby

Ulan-Ude is half an hour away; the Ethnographic Museum of the Peoples of Transbaikal is on the far side of the city.