Ulaanbaatar (UB)

Ulaanbaatar (often callled UB by the expats) - the coldest capital in the world!

for a long time, the mongols were reticent in terms of urbanisation, given their nomadic lifestyle. thus the country’s capital used to change both name and location several times over the last couple of centuries. this, however, was not a problem since it was composed of gers which were easily moved further on. only in 1778, the capital called Urga at the time was established at its current location, at the riverside of Tuul at the north of the mountain Bogdo Uul.

at its independence declaration in 1911, Urga became the official capital of the country. only in 1924 and after the revolution which brought to power the pro-soviet forces, the city is renamed Ulaanbaatar, which means “red hero”. still fairly much a ger town then, UB subsequently is being ‘sovietised’. in other words, many big, ugly, grey buildings are built and large squares are erected. UB today still retains this very much ex-soviet feeling when you wander its streets.

driving back into UB...

in july 1921 in the centre of UB, the ‘hero of the revolution’ Damdin Sükhbaatar declared mongolia’s final independence from the chinese. the square now bears his name and features a statue of him astride his horse.

Sükhbaatar joined the mongolian army in 1911 and was famous for his horsemanship but was forced to leave because of insubordination. he joined a resistance army in 1917, fought against the chinese and picked up the nickname of baatar (hero). he was the commander-in-chief of the mongolian people’s revolutionary army which defeated the chinese and later the white russians. he died at the early age of 30 years (the exact cause of death was never really known), without seeing mongolia be proclaimed a republic.

Sükhbaatar square in UB was also where the first protests were held in 1990 which eventually led to the fall of communism in mongolia. it got a make-over in 2003.

parliament house (see pic below) is commonly known as government house, which, like every ger, was built to face south. an inner courtyard of the building actually holds a large ceremonial ger used for hosting visiting dignitaries.

on the right-hand side is the state opera & ballet theatre. on the left-hand side, in turn, is the palace of culture, containing the mongolian national modern art gallery and several other cultural institutions.

the statue of Sükhbaatar, the national hero, on the square of the same name.

Chengis Khaan sitting at the entrance of parliament house.

Choijin Lama (see pic below) today is a monastery-museum. it was constructed from 1904-08 and closed in 1938 and saved in 1942 as a museum to demonstrate the ‘feudal’ ways of the pre-soviet times and in particular its religious practice.

the ruins of Choijin Lama in the centre, just across of one of the best restaurants in town.