Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. 150th birth anniversary of VIII Bogd Jebtsundamba Khutagt, the last king of Mongolia was commemorated in 2019.

Within the framework of the celebration of his birth anniversary, the construction of a park covering 1.4-hectare area of land with pedestrian road made of Mongolian natural stones, green area of cedar and pine trees that are evergreen for four seasons began in November 2019.This construction work is now nearing completion and thirteen sculptures are being erected at the park.

Last year, a 4.3-meter-tall bronze statue of the VIII Bogd Jebtsundamba and a 3.15-meter-tall bronze statue of Bogd Lunden were erected. Whereas on Wednesday, erection of nine smaller sculptures and the statues entitled ‘Under the Eternal Sky’ and ‘Saker Falcon’ were completed.

About the Bogd Khan Palace Museum

The Bogd Khaan Palace Museum had been originally the Green Palace of the last Mongolian king, the VIII Bogd Jebtsundamba Khutagt. After Bogd Khaan’s death of illness in 1924, exhibits of the first museum of Mongolia were relocated to the Bogd Khaan's Winter Palace by a government decree issued in 1926 and the Winter Palace was converted to a museum building, displaying objects of historical and artistic value, religious idols, ethnographic objects, the royal collection of stuffed animals, and other items which had been owned or used by the Bogd Khaan. The museum is considered as the oldest and has the biggest collection in Mongolia. 

In 1954, it became a part of the State Central Museum. However in 1961, it possessed a status of an independent museum. The Bogd Khaan Palace Museum is a complex of 20 buildings including the Naidan Temple, Makhranz Temple, Library Temple, Winter Palace, Peace Gate and so forth. The museum has about 8,600 exhibits and receives more than 40,000 visitors annually.

When building the Green Palace, also known as ‘The temple that develops the wisdom’, thousands of trees were used. The wood has been prepared by gatekeeper lama Janchiv and Zaisan lama Jantsan while the lime was brought from the place named Zuunbayan and Tsagaanbulag of Darkhan Chin Van Puntsagtseren's khoshuu. The temple was built mainly by the Tejaan Zaisan firm, and the bricklaying work was carried out by the Han family of Amgalan.

The Green Palace has been expanded several times and new buildings have been added. For example, the Peace Gate was built in 1912-1919 to commemorate the historic proclamation of the VIII Jebtsundamba as the Emperor of Mongolia in 1911. The gate was designed by the architects led by Baajav including Sanjid and Tejaan . In 1913, a clothing building was built next to the Winter Palace, and winter house of the Bogd’s pet elephant was built on the west side of the fence.

As for the Winter Palace of the VIII Bogd Jebtsundamba, it was built as a two-story European-style in 1903-1905 by Buryat builders of Tsetsen Khan Aimag, based on the design presented by the King Tsar Nikolai II of Russia. The VIII Bogd Jebtsundamba and his wife Queen Dondogdulam lived in the palace for about 20 years during winter season.