Urga in 1821: a monastery town of wooden temples and giant yurts
Editorial contextThe ancestor of Ulaanbaatar, as Bichurin saw it: a great monastery (Khüree) built on Tibetan lines, about 12 li round, with many irregular streets. At the centre was the court of the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu. The temples were of wood, the main one with a gilded dome; the other buildings were huge yurts covered with canvas. The lamas lived in felt tents or mud-plaster huts. A Chinese trading town (Maimaicheng) stood nearby.
Khüree, a vast monastery built according to Tibetan rules. … Its circuit is about 12 li, and it consists of many irregular streets. In the centre stands a large courtyard in which the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu resides. Here the temples are built of wood, and the main one has a gilded dome. The other buildings consist of huge yurts covered with canvas.
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Original wording
Курень, обширный монастырь, построенный по Тибетскимъ правиламъ. … Въ окружности содержитъ около 12 ли, и состоитъ изъ многихъ неправильныхъ улицъ. Въ средоточіи стоитъ обширный дворъ, въ которомъ Чжебцзунь-дамба-хутухта имѣетъ пребываніе. Здѣсь храмы построены изъ дерева и главный съ позолоченымъ куполомъ. Прочія строенія состоятъ изъ огромныхъ юртъ, обтянутыхъ парусиною.
About Khalkha Mongols and Buddhist lamas
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A Mongol official's belief about Genghis Khan's houses
Editorial contextA Mongol officer (the zakiroktchi) told the Russians he was sure several European kings descended from Genghis Khan, since Genghis had reigned in Russia, and that ruins of Genghis Khan's houses still stood in Mongolia and probably in Russia too. Timkovsky dismisses the royal descent as absurd but records the belief. It is an early example of a local legend crediting ruins to Genghis Khan.
The zakiroktchi was persuaded that several sovereigns of Europe must be descendants of Gingis Khan, … because he had reigned in Russia, and other foreign countries; a conjecture of which it seems unnecessary to shew the absurdity. He informed us that there still existed in Mongolia ruins of houses that belonged to Gingis Khan, and he supposed there must be some in Russia.
About Khalkha Mongols
Keep in mind
Hearsay from a Mongol official; Timkovsky himself rejects part of it.
Urga, the moving camp that became a walled town
Editorial contextIn a footnote Pallas explains that on the Tola River stands the now fixed court of the Khutukhtu (the Mongol high lama) and the Mongol princes: a place enclosed by wooden walls with several temples and dwellings. It used to be a moving camp called Urga, he says, but is now called Küree, a word meaning a walled place, and Chinese governors live there to watch over the Mongol princes. This is the origin of today's Ulaanbaatar.
On it now stands the permanent court of the Khutukhtu and the Mongol chiefs, laid out as a fixed place surrounded by wooden walls, with various temples and dwellings. This court, which formerly, when it was still a moving camp, was called Urga or Gergö, is therefore now called Kurö
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Original wording
An demselben ist gegenwärtig das unveränderliche Hoflager des Kutuchta und der mongolischen Häupter, als ein fester, mit hölzernen Wänden umgebner Platz, mit verschiedenen Tempeln und Wohnungen angelegt. Man nennt daher dieses Hoflager, welches sonst, da es noch ein wandelbares Lager vorstellte, Urga oder Gergö hieß, nunmehr Kurö
About Khalkha Mongols and their Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu
Continue in this sourceLorenz Lange's caravan journals from Kiakhta to Peking1727 to 1736 · 3 passagesUrga, a capital made of tents
Editorial contextUrga (modern Ulaanbaatar), the seat of the Khalkha living Buddha and of the Qing governors, was mostly a town of felt tents. Timkovsky says every dwelling, including the Russian house, stood inside a palisade, with tents in the courtyards and only a small Chinese-style house of two rooms. Elsewhere he describes its temples and a separate Chinese trading quarter, the maimatchin.
Ourga consists chiefly of kibitkas: the evening being foggy we did not see it till we were within three wersts of it. … Our abode, like all the habitations in Ourga, was surrounded with palisades; in the first court there was a tent for the guard; in the second four very spacious tents had been erected for us, behind which was a small Chinese house
About Khalkha Mongols; Manchu and Chinese officials
Continue in this sourceA Russian mission crosses Mongolia to Peking, 1820 to 18211820 to 1821 · 14 passages