Chinggis Khaan National Museum Opens in Ulaanbaatar
Opened in October 2022, the nine-storey museum shows more than 10,000 objects on the nomadic empires of the steppe, from the Xiongnu to the Mongol khans. It has become the first stop for visitors to the capital.
The Chinggis Khaan National Museum opened on 11 October 2022 in the centre of Ulaanbaatar. It is the largest museum in Mongolia and is devoted to the nomadic states of the steppe and, above all, to the empire founded by Chinggis Khaan in the thirteenth century.
The building
The museum stands in the Chingeltei district, a short walk north of the main square and the parliament, on the site of the old natural history museum, which was demolished. It has nine storeys. The entrance is shaped like a paiza, the metal tablet that Mongol envoys carried as a passport across the empire, and the top of the building takes the form of a ger, the round felt tent of the herders.
The collection
More than 10,000 objects are on display, and the museum says that over 85 per cent of them are originals. The collection was formed largely from the holdings of the National Museum and the former natural history museum, whose building was demolished in 2019 to make way for the new one. It covers the nomadic states of the steppe and the Mongol empire.
A research library of more than 6,000 volumes opened to the public at the end of 2023, and a conservation laboratory was added in 2024. In January 2024 National Geographic included the museum in a list of twenty cultural places to visit that year.
For travellers
Most journeys in Mongolia start with a day or two in Ulaanbaatar, and the museum is a useful preparation for what follows. It pairs well with the Gandan monastery and with the Choijin Lama temple museum, both within a few minutes by car.
From the capital, travellers go south to cross the Gobi or west to the Altai to meet the eagle hunters. The old imperial capital of Karakorum, a day’s drive to the west, has its own small museum beside the monastery of Erdene Zuu.
