• Like a face in the mountain? - John of Dublin
  • Yes, it is a face of Genghis Khan, done with lots of white rocks and stones. This, Bogd Khan mountain, is the world's oldest official protected area.

Sukhbaatar sq.

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Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia, May 03, 2007

This square, the has particular historical significance, because it was here, in 1924, that Sukhbaatar stood and proclaimed the victory of the Revolution for Independence, marking finally the overthrough of Mongolia's external and internal enemies. The monument to Sukhbaatar, therefore occupies pride of place in the center of the Square, and all major festivals and events have taken place here since that date. In 1924, a year after the premature death of Sukhbaatar by pneumonia the first National Congress adopted the first Constitutional liquidated the monarchy, proclaimed Mongolia as a republic and the square renamed as Sukhbaatar Square. This date marks the birth of Modern Mongolia and a new era in the history of its people.

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.'

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In the background, the mountain name is BOGD KHAN MOUNTAIN: This mountain is the world's oldest official protected area. In 1778, the Emperor of Manchur passed resolutions to formalize the sacred values of the Bogd Khan Mountain and provide for official protection of the site. On the south side of the protected area, monks have begun the process of rebuilding the Monastery Manzushiry. Established in 1750, the monastery housed more than 350 monks and 20 temples, including schools of medicine, astrology, and philosophy, before it was destroyed in the 1930's. Numerous archaeological sites have been discovered in the preserve, including cave paintings that archaeologists date to three thousand years ago.

Read more from UNESCO World Heritage Centre:
whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/936/

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