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Published: October 13th 2013
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Parliament
Massive Genghis! Mongolia has transformed fairly smoothly into it's present democratic state after almost 70 years of communist rule. But, the first stop on my whirlwind tour of Ulaanbaatar's few museums was the 'Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum', housed in the residence of Peljidiin Genden the former president (and prime minister) of Mongolia who was executed by Stalin for refusing to execute 'the enemies within'; the lamas. His house was turned into a museum by his daughter, Tserendulam.
The wooden, two-storey house is very close to the parliament building. It looks old. The painted wood has faded and chipped, the grounds are overgrown with weeds, and when I try to get in the door is locked.
An old man appears from around the corner, and we chat for a moment in Russian. He lets me in, and takes me through to the first room. It is sparse, containing very little except for posters for each region that say how many people died in the purges. next to this room is Genden's office, as it was when he died, and some personal possessions of his, including photographs of him with Stalin.
The man in charge of the house told me
to "Быстро! Быстро!" GO FASTER! I went upstairs past the artwork made to commemorate the purges. The most haunting part of the upstairs was a raised platform displaying skulls with bullet holes in them. Behind them there is a picture of a field. They belong to some of the people killed in the purges that got rid of government opposition, officers in the army, and Buddhist priests. Estimates of the total death toll vary from 27,000 to 100,000, the lower number would equal about 3% of the population at the time.
From the Persecution Museum, I walked west towards Choijin Lama Temple, but it wasn't open yet, so I popped into a café for a drink and some breakfast (spinach and feta omelette - divine!), then headed back.
The temple was stunning. A whole complex of buildings with different temples inside. stunning doesn't cover it. I'm not sure i can do the architecture justice. Where to start?
The walls are not flat. There are all kinds of creatures and people and bits of stuff coming out of the wall! The rooms were chock full of all kinds of artefacts and artwork. The effect was a little in
your face, but worked. It looked incredible.
Next on my museum morning, i headed to the National Museum, across Sukhbatar Square where there was a protest going on (for the national library i think), and about fifty people were sitting down on mats in the middle of the square reading books.
The National museum was pretty interesting, tracing the history of Mongolia from the paleolithic era, thrughg the hordes and to the modern day. A whole section was dedicated to clothing of the various native ethnic minorities, and there was a display of photos taken by a Russian explorer of the Mongolian people in 1880. And, of course, lots to do with Chinngis Khan... Better known as Genghis.
I found a Mongolian Vegetarian restaurant and was delighted by the most delicious soft dumplings i've ever had (they weren't fried and thus not in direct competition with Beijing!). Mongolian food is very meaty... Usually containing lots of meat. There is speculation (on the intermet), that the reason there are no McDonalds in Mongolia is because the meat is too tender and it's not fatty enough... I think that should adequately discribe what the food is like. the veggie
food is just the same.
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