Urga

Urga grew in the valley of the Tuul River, beneath the forested mountain of Bogd Khan. Known in Mongolian as Örgöö, or “palace”, it began in 1639 as a mobile Buddhist monastery established for Zanabazar, the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. Its temples and encampments moved between the Orkhon, Selenge and Tuul as the needs of the community changed, making it a religious centre without a permanent site.

During the Dzungar wars the monastery even moved into Inner Mongolia. It eventually settled in the Tuul valley in 1778, on the caravan route between Beijing and Kyakhta. Monks, merchants and pilgrims gathered around the residence of the Jebtsundamba, and the Great Monastery became a leading centre of Mongolian Buddhism. The river itself was already famous in Mongol tradition: the Secret History speaks of the “Black Forest of the Tuul”, where Ong Khan had his palace.