Gandan monastery

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The Gandan Monastery is a central sanctuary in Mongolia
Buddhist stupas on the territory of the monastery

The Gandan Monastery ( Mongolian Гандантэгчинлэн хийд , Gandantegtschinlen Chiid ) is the most important monastery in Ulaanbaatar , the capital of Mongolia . It is located on a hill west of the city center.

The Gandan Monastery was founded in 1727 and badly damaged during the Stalinist terror in Mongolia in 1937 , several buildings even destroyed. The complex remained closed until 1944, after which the remaining temples were conditionally reused. Until the end of the Mongolian People's Republic , the Gandan Monastery was the only monastery in all of Mongolia in which religious ceremonies - under the control of the secret police - were allowed to take place. Today over 600 monks live in the monastery again.

The most striking building is the white Migjid Janraisig Süm, to which the Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar Buddhist University adjoins on the left. Here is the 26 meter high statue of the goddess Janraisig ( Sanskrit : Avalokiteshvara ), for which the monastery is famous. In 1938, Soviet troops dismantled and melted down the statue. The Buddhist community had a new gold-plated Janraisig built in 1996 with the equivalent of five million dollars in donations. A new throne chair was built for the Dalai Lama , the actual head of the monastery.

See also

Web links

Commons : Gandan Monastery  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marion Wisotzki: Mongolei , p. 147, Berlin 2010
  2. Michael Kohn: Mongolia , p. 74. London 2008

Coordinates: 47 ° 55 ′ 23 "  N , 106 ° 53 ′ 42"  E