Ulaanbaatar: Culture, History and Nature

You can get to know Ulaanbaatar through its memorial sites, museums and historic buildings. When planning your stay, you can first consider whether the city’s development, religious history or natural history topics are of particular interest to you. Earlier city tours offer a range of historical points of reference.

City Tours and Memorial Sites

In 2018, the Ulaanbaatar Tourism Department operated the Ulaanbaatar City Tour as a seasonal sightseeing bus from June 15 to October 15. One city tour went to Zaisan Hill, a memorial complex for Soviet soldiers. The bus route also passed the Ulaanbaatar Letter Monument and the Wedding Palace. These stops combine a memorial site with two other named stopping points on the tour at the time. If a city tour is important to your plans, check what is currently available for your travel dates in advance.

A city tour for students went to Sukhbaatar Square and Gandantegchinlen Monastery, the Buddhist center of Mongolia. The Bogd Khan Palace Museum and the Choijin Lama Temple Museum were also destinations on this earlier tour. The Bogd Khan Palace Museum is associated with the Green Palace of Mongolia’s last king, the VIII Bogd Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. This historical connection distinguishes the site from the religious and urban themes of the other stops mentioned.

Museums and City History

The Ulaanbaatar City Museum presents the city’s historical development and progress. The Choijin Lama Temple Complex offers another focus on history and architecture: it was built between 1904 and 1908 in honor of Governor Choijin Luvsankhaidav. Around 300 Mongolian craftspeople from all the country’s provinces contributed to its design and construction. The construction period and the craftspeople’s origins give the temple complex a nationwide historical dimension. Gandantegchinlen Monastery complements these topics with the Buddhist history of Mongolia.

More to Explore in the Wider Ulaanbaatar Destination

In the wider Ulaanbaatar destination, the Chinggis Khaan National Museum offers a broad historical perspective: its collection comprises more than 10,000 original exhibits, spanning from Modun Shanyu to the beginning of the 20th century. The Hall of the Mongol Empire displays archaeological monuments from the Hunnu Empire and the Bronze Age. It thus focuses both on a long historical span and on specific archaeological topics.

The Bogd Khan Palace Museum Complex includes seven temples, the Winter Palace, around 20 buildings and 40 exhibition halls. Its collection comprises 8,646 objects across 4,212 inventory entries. These figures give a sense of the complex’s scale; at the same time, its connection to Mongolia’s last king remains a central historical point of reference. By contrast, the National Museum of Natural Science of Mongolia focuses on the country’s geography, geology, flora and fauna, as well as significant paleontological discoveries. Its exhibits include skeletons and fossils of giant dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period, as well as specimens of rare and endangered Mongolian wildlife and bird species.

Landscape and Nature

Protected landscapes are also among the topics covered in the wider Ulaanbaatar destination. The Bogd Khan Uul Strictly Protected Area covers 41,427.89 hectares; the area is reported to have 54 mammal species, 194 bird species and 588 plant species. Gorkhi-Terelj National Park features mountains, rock formations, rivers and streams. Hiking trails were established at Ögöömöriin Am in collaboration with the Mongol-Olle Society. If you plan to hike there, check the current condition of the trails before your visit.

The topics mentioned give you a basis for tailoring your stay to your own interests without combining the different attractions into a single route.

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