Amarbayasgalant monastery is one of the most beautiful monasteries of Mongolia. The name Amarbayasgalant means “Tranquil Felicity”. In fact “Amar” – means tranquil, and “Bayasgalant” means Felicity.
In 1727, the Manchurian emperor dedicated Amarbayasgalant Monastery to the 1st head lama of Mongolian Buddhism, Zanabazar. The first Bogd Zanabazar was from a direct lineage of golden blood or the king’s royal blood. In fact, Ondor Gegeen Zanabazar had exceptional artistic abilities. The Soyombo script, the letter found on the Mongolian flag, the White Tara, the Green Tara to mention a few of his timeless masterworks. People even referred to him as Leonardo Da Vinci of the 17th century. Aged 88 years, it said that his remains were transferred to this monastery complex in 1779.
The Amarbayasgalant Monastery originally consisted of over 40 temples and buildings laid out on parallel sides. In fact, this beautiful monastery was one of the very few monasteries which partially escaped during the communist purge in 1937-1939. However, many lamas were executed and many monastery artifacts including statues, tanka, sutras were looted and destroyed. In spite of the purge, some artifacts were hidden during the purge until modern days and later were returned.
After that, restoration work took the place in 1988 and added a shining golden buddha statue and a large Stupa on the hills behind the Monastery. Today, the monastery has 28 buildings and 30-50 lamas, most of them teenagers, run the monastery all year round.
