Dating back to at least the 1580s, the Erdene Zuu Monastery is Mongolia‘s oldest surviving Buddhist monastery. Translated as the ”100 Treasures”, Erdene Zuu is located in the Ovorkhangai Province and is part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, which is a World Heritage Site. The monastery is affiliated with the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Originally, the complex consisted of 108 stupas and more than 60 temples
The Erdene Zuu monastery was built in 1586 by the orders of Abtai Sain Khan, the ruler of the Khalkha Mongols. Abtai Khan wanted to build a place of worship after meeting with the 3rd Dalai Lama and the declaration of Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of Mongolia. Originally, the complex consisted of 108 stupas and more than 60 temples. In 1688, the monastery was damaged in a war between Dzungars and Khalkha Mongols and was abandoned for a while until the remaining pieces were reassembled in the 18th century. By 1872, new temples were built inside the complex which housed up to 1000 monks.
The name ”100 Treasures” is a nod to the number of the original temples and the stupas that form the surrounding wall
The monastery was closed in 1939 and it remained closed until 1965, when it was converted into a museum. Some parts of the complex were destroyed and three temples and the outer wall with the stupas remained. In the 1990s, the monastery was turned over to the lamas and Erdene Zuu again became a place of worship. Today, Erdene Zuu remains an active Buddhist monastery as well as a museum.
There are now three temples known as Zuu of Buddha, Zuun Zuu, and Baruun Zuu. These temples are dedicated to the three stages of Buddha’s life: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The temple walls are all painted and the Chinese-style roofs are covered with green tiles. The surrounding walls consist of 108 stupas, which is the sacred number in Buddhism, and the number of beads in a Buddhist rosary which is called ”mala”. Each of these stupas used to differ from each other and have the names of their donors but after the restoration in the 1990s, they were built identically.
Today Erdene Zuu is an active Buddhist monastery and is open to visitors
