Mongolia Tourism

Karakorum is one of the country's major tourist destinations. The site of Chinggis Khaan's fabled city, administrative center of an enormous empire, Karakorum was founded in 1220 in the Orkhon valley, at the crossroads of the Silk Road. It was the seat of power of the Mongol Empire until Khubilai Khaan transfered it to what has nowadays become Beijing. The city was destroyed and its materials used to build the monumental 400m walls and 108 stupas that surrounded Mongolis's first Buddhist monastery of Erdene Zuu, built in 1586. Inside the walls by 1792 there were 62 temples and 10.000 lamas, and stone turtles marked the boundaries, two of which can still be found. Nearby are the Turkic monuments and rock inscriptions dating from the 8th and 9th centuries.

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Mongolia Tourism