Towkhon Temple

The Tovkhon Stone Monastery, located on the top of the Tuvkhun-uul hill, is a sacred place for all Mongolians. This cradle of Buddhism was built in the 17th century by order of Saint Zanabazar, who visited the region at the age of 10. This unusual place is not included in most tourist routes and is more popular with the indigenous population than with tourists.

The monastery is surrounded on three sides by a forest that comes close to the walls. The base of the main temple is the rock itself, located on the top of the hill. You can climb to it by a special staircase carved in stone to a height of about twenty meters.

The building of the temple itself is wooden, two-storey. It is not decorated with carvings and bright shingles like most Buddhist temples. His only decoration is the Hadag, hung throughout the facade. Hadag is a traditional blue ribbon, considered a symbol of the Mongolian sky. These silk ribbons are hung as a sign of respect, reverence and purity of intentions. Near the hill of Tuvhun-ul in the northwest is a sanctuary with Burhans, girdled with a paved road.

Scientists have found that the temple was previously called the “Land of Happy Solitude Temple of Under Gegeen”, because Zanabazar himself meditated here before his journey.