Gengis khan equestrian statue

The equestrian statue of Genghis Khan was built in 2008 on the occasion of the eight-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the Mongolian Empire, in honour of its founder, Genghis Khan. This huge stainless steel statue weighs 250 tons and is 40 metres (131 feet) high ; it's the highest statue representing a man on a horseback in the world. It's located 54 kilometres (33,55 miles) from Ulan Bator, on the banks of the Tuul River, in the place called Tsonjin Boldog. You can easily visit it when you visit Gorkhi Terelj National Park.

Legend

Genghis Khan is told to have found in Tsonjin Boldog a golden horsewhip. The statue is turned towards East, towards the conqueror's place of birth. It stands on a 10-metres high base that is surrounded by 36 columns representing the 36 kings Mongolia experienced during its history, from the first one, Genghis Khan, to the last one, Ligden Khan. The statue was made by the sculptor D. Erdenebileg and the architect J. Enkhjargal, and costed 4,2 millions of dollars.

Site visit

Visitors can go inside the statue, and from the inside of the horse's head, they have a panoramic view of the surroundings and reconstituted Mongolian village.

The site also has a museum that shows an exhibition about the Bronze Age and the archaeological culture of the Xiongnus in Mongolia. The visitor will discover usual utensils, belt buckles, knives, sacred animals, etc. The second exhibition covers the period of the 13th and 14th centuries, when the Mongolian Empire was at its height, with tools, goldsmith subjects, crosses, and rosaries.