Amarbayasgalan Khiid was built during 1727-1736, in the honour of Under Gegeen Zanabazar, the firs Bogd of Mongolia. Originally, Amarbayasgalalnt Monastery consisted of over 40 temples built on the special terrace, surrounded by a wall, measuring 207 by 175 m. by the Manchu emperor Yongzheng, and dedicated to the great Mongolian Buddhist and sculptor Zanabazar, whose mummified body was moved here in 1779. It iis in the Manchu style, down to the inscriptions, symmetrical layout, imperial colour scheme and roof guardians on every roof corner. The communists moseyed in around 1937, but ‘only’ destroyed 10 out of the 37 temples and statues, possibly because of sympathetic and procrastinating local military commanders.

These days about 30 mons live in the monastery, compared with more than 2000 in 1936. Most of the temples in the monastery are normally closed, so if you want to see any statues or thangkas (scroll paintings), you’ll have to find the monks with the keys in the monks’ quarters, the yellow concrete buildings on the right side (east) of the monastery.