Getting There<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Baldan Bereeven Monastery (Mongolian: \u0411\u0430\u043b\u0434\u0430\u043d \u0431\u044d\u0440\u044d\u044d\u0432\u044d\u043d \u0445\u0438\u0439\u0434) is a Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) Buddhist monastery located in the Baruun Jargalant River valley \u00d6mn\u00f6delger district, Khentii Province, Mongolia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to Expect<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

First established in 1654, the monastery grew to be one of the largest and most important in Mongolia at its height in the mid-19th century, housing up to 8000 monks. The monastery and temple complex were destroyed by Mongolia\u2019s communist regime in 1937.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Baldan Bereeven Monastery was founded in 1654 by the lama Tsevendorj with an initial monastic community of around 1500 lamas. According to tradition, Tsevendorj had studied with Zanabazar, the First Bogd Gegeen of Mongolia, in Tibet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsevendorj endeavored to create a site similar to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, in Mongolia to accommodate Mongolian pilgrims who could not travel far. The main temple, called Dash Tsepel Ling, was built in the mid 1700s and was completed in 1776. The Tsogchin Dugan (great hall) Temple was completed in 1813. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baldan Bereeven remained off-limits for nearly six decades. Following the democratic revolution in 1990 a handful of older monks who were removed from Baldan Bereevan as young boys in the 1930s returned to the monastery. Restoration efforts for several of the monasteries main temples began in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilities Available<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The monastery grounds are surrounded by scenic and sacred mountains. The monastery itself is backed by the steep cliff of\u00a0Munkh Ulziit<\/em>\u00a0mountain where many cliff carvings, stone carvings with different images of Buddhist gods, inscriptions of religious\u00a0mantras, and a large\u00a0Soyombo symbol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This monastery was built with granite in 1777 in the southern slope of Delgerkhan Mountain. The monastery that once had a name Khalkh\u2019s Ar Utai Gumben was demolished during the great political repression of Mongolia and today a small monastery is on the base of it. Also, there is Buddha Manzushir on the 2:3 in stone that is in the southeast of the monastery. In 2012 Baldan Bereeven Monastery and the surrounding area were placed on the tentative list to be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11920,"parent":0,"template":"","destination_type":[17],"location":[73,23],"site_type":[169],"featured":[],"class_list":["post-852","destination","type-destination","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","destination_type-site","location-khentii","location-mongolia","site_type-heritage-tourism"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/destination"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19340,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination\/852\/revisions\/19340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"destination_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destination_type?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"site_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site_type?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitsilkroad.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}