The National Museum of Mongolian History relates the history of Mongolia and its different ethnics from the prehistoric era to the XXth century.
The prehistoric hall presents and explains the different ages with tools and copies of stone paintings and habitation.
The historic hall presents the Turkish period with many gold and silver ornaments, potteries and paintings.
The ethnographic department is certainly the most interesting of the museum. A whole hall is dedicated to the varied costumes and hats of every Mongolian ethnic. You will be able to admire all women's ornaments, i.e. silver combs with semi-precious stones, earrings, hair ornaments, etc.
A certain number of ancient pieces concerns the era of the Great Mongol Empire under ruling of Chinggis Khaan : warriors' costumes, weapons, paintings.
There are also many objects of daily use such as stone grain, traditional games, music instruments, handcraft objects and kitchenware.
The last section relates the recent history of the country, i.e. the XXth century with many documents from that time.

This is Mongolia's most important historical architectural monument. The monastery assembly consists of 7 temples and 20 small and big gates.
The temples were built in 1893-1903 for the Eighth Bogd Jivsundamba. A few years later, the small European style winter house was built. As the Manchurian emperor accused Mongolia to construct in the style of a competing faith, Buddhist ornaments were added to the roof and lotus pattern painted onto the walls.
Bogd Khaan was the "holy king", which means he was the ruler and the representative of the faith. He and his queen spent 20 winters in this palace.
Today the museum contains rooms as they were at that time with furniture, personal belongings related to Bogd Khaan's life and religious activities. You will find their thrones, costumes with golden threads or del of fox fur, snuff bottles, the queen's headdress, etc.
There is also an excellent collection of Mongolian paintings, thangkas, appliques, etc in the temples, dating from XVIIth to XXth centuries.
The collection of religious musical instruments used in Bogd Khaan's ceremonies, as well as Bogd Zanabazar's works (collection of bronze sculptures) and personal belongings are also of great interest.

Built in 1810 and partly destroyed, it was rebuilt in 1990.
The Gandan monastery has reopened in 1970 with 100 monks and was the only one opened at that time.
In the central temple, you will find the huge statue of Janraisig, the biggest Buddha of all central and east Asia. The Megjid Janraisig statue was built to commemorate the independence from China in 1911. But it was destroyed during the communist purges of the late 30's.
The temple and the statue were restored and opened to the public view in 1996. The statue is 26 meters high and weighs 90 tons! It is made of gold, silver, copper, other materials and 2100 precious stones. 186 stones decorate its head. 1000 small statues of Ayush god were made to sit all around it. Following the religious architectural code, two stone lions stand in front of the statue to protect it.
It represents today a very important center for Mongolian Buddhism.
If you visit the monastery in the morning, you will be able to listen to young monks singing.
The place is full of serenity and also … splendid.

The Museum of Natural History was founded in 1924 and enlarged in 1997 and is so one of the oldest museums of the country.
You can find different sections in the museum:

• Geography with pictures and maps of Mongolia explaining the climate, animals and landscape.
• Geology with samples of various minerals you can find in the country and an explanation about volcanoes.
• Flora and fauna with displays of stuffed and embalmed animals including the rare Gobi bear and the wild camel, birds and fish, that give a good idea about the rich Mongolian fauna. There are also embalmed animals from the entire world. For each animal, details such as where it lives, what it eats, etc. are available.
• Paleontology, which is the most impressive section. There are petrified eggs and bones of many dinosaurs that lived in the Gobi desert about 60-70 million years ago. More impressive are the two complete skeletons of the flesh-eating giant Tarbosaurus and the duck-billed Saurolophus.

The Museum of Fine Art was founded in 1966.
The first hall exhibits year-old cave paintings and deer stone paintings found in Mongolia. Interesting objects depicting the rise and fall of the different states of the country are also exposed, such as hand made carpets of the Huns, pieces of Uighur and Turkish construction, etc.
The second hall displays a collection of thangka paintings. Thangka is a Tibetan word for Buddhist painting depicting deities. They reach a splendid effect through harmony of line and colours and mineral pigments used on cotton.
The third one is dedicated to Applique from XIX to XX century. It consists in a unique Mongolian-style needlework. Similar in composition, colours and content to thangka, they use the contrast of different colours of embroidered silk and the inlaying of precious stones.
Really interesting is also the exhibition about Khuree Tsam. This ceremony came from India and was performed in Mongolia from 1811 to 1937. It consisted in a performance of the wrathful deities with dancers, costumes and masks. They were to "expel all evil and bring good fortune", mixing religious ritual and artistic creation. Masks in papier-mâché and coral, costumes, ritual objects and music instruments are of great interest.