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Sukhbaatar square. Ulaanbaatar.

THE REGIONS OF MONGOLIA

SIGHTS OF INTEREST IN MONGOLIA

SUKHBAATAR SQUARE

In July 1921 in the center of Ulaanbaatar, the 'hero of the revolution', Damdin Sukhbaatar, declared Mongolia's final independence from the Chinese. The Square now bears his name and features a statue of him astride his horse. The words he apparently proclaimed at the time are engraved on the bottom of the statue: 'If we, the whole people, unite in our common effort and common will, there will be nothing in the world that we cannot achieve, that we will not have learnt or failed to do.'

Sukhbaatar would have been very disappointed to learn that the Square was also where the first protests were held in 1989, which eventually led to the fall of communism. Today, the Square is occasionally used for rallies, ceremonies and even rock concerts, but is generally a serene place where only the photographers - standing in a straight line selling their services - are doing anything.

Monument to General to change its Appearance. The monument to D. Sukhbaatar on the central square will be covered in bronze, the joint work of Mongolian and North Korean sculptors. This work will be completed before the Day of Declaration of the Republic, or November 26, 2008. The main part of the monument will be created in Pyuongyang, with assembly work to be implemented by Mongolian sculptors in cooperation with North Korean sculptors. Descendants of the 1921 revolutionists have requested that the design, size and form of the monument, with its 60-year history and created by the foremost political and art figures of Mongolia, should not be altered. The issue of reconstruction of this monument has been discussed since 2004.

As you face North from the statue, the large gray building is State Parliament House, commonly known as Government House - which, like every ger, was built to face south. Directly in front of it is a mausoleum, built in 1921, which contains the remains of Sukhbaatar, and possibly Choibalsan.

To the North-East is the tall, modern Palace of Culture, a useful landmark containing the Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery and several other cultural institutions. At the south-east corner of the Square, the salmon-pinkish building is the State Opera & Ballet Theatre.

On the north-western corner of the Square, the bright yellow building houses the Golomt Bank, with the gray National Museum of Mongolian History behind it. The Mongolian Museum of National History has many interesting exhibits related to D. Sukhbaatar and his spouse S. Yanjmaa, including a Mauser pistol, whip, clothes, cups, etc. The number of exhibits exceeds 100 and one of the most interesting is an axe with broken handle. This was found by the General's father, Damdin, and taken as a good omen when Sukhbaatar was born, and so he gave his son the name of "Sukh", which means axe in Mongolian.

South of the Golomt Bank, the clay-red building (now with bright blue patches around the windows) is the Mongolian Stock Exchange, which was opened in February 1992 in the former Children's Cinema.