☸️ Gandantegchinlen Monastery (Ulaanbaatar)
Mongolia
About This Sacred Site
Gandantegchinlen Monastery ('Great Place of Complete Joy'), known simply as Gandan, is the largest and most important functioning Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. Located in Ulaanbaatar, it houses a 26.5-meter indoor statue of Avalokiteshvara (Megjid Janraisig), one of the tallest indoor Buddhist statues in the world. The monastery survived the communist era (though its original statue was destroyed and later rebuilt) and serves as the center of Mongolian Buddhist life, with hundreds of monks in residence.
Key Facts
- •Mongolia's largest and most important active Buddhist monastery
- •Houses a 26.5-meter statue of Avalokiteshvara, one of the tallest indoor Buddhist statues
- •The original statue was destroyed during the communist period and rebuilt in 1996
- •Founded in 1838 and survived the communist purges as the only functioning monastery
- •Hundreds of monks reside and study at the monastery complex
Location
Coordinates: 47.9222, 106.8953
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