Sukhbaatar Square
Sükhbaatar Square (Mongolian: Сүхбаатарын талбай, pronounced Sükhbaatariin Talbai) is the central square of Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar. The square was named for Mongolian’s revolutionary hero Damdin Sükhbaatar shortly after his death in 1923. The square’s name was changed to Chinggis Square (Mongolian: Чингисийн талбай, pronounced Chinggisiin Talbai) in 2013 in honor of Genghis Khan, considered the founding father of Mongolia,[1] but the original name was restored in 2016. The center of the plaza features an equestrian statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, while a large colonnade monument dedicated to Genghis Khan, as well as to Ögedei Khan and Kublai Khan, dominates the square’s north face directly in front of the Saaral Ordon (Government Palace)
Buildings
Government Palace (built in 1951 on the spot formally occupied by the national theater or “Green Domed Theater”) is located on the north side of the square. It is fronted by a large colonnade monument to Genghis Khan, Ögedei Khan, and Kublai Khan, completed in 2006 in time for the 800th anniversary of Genghis Khan’s coronation. Prior to its demolition in 2005, Sükhbaatar’s Mausoleum, the former burial place of Damdin Sükhbaatar and Khorloogiin Choibalsan occupied the area just in front of the Government palace.[5] On the square’s western side sits the headquarters of the Ulaanbaatar Bank, Ulaanbaatar City Administration building, often referred to by locals at “the Death Star” because of its dark exterior, the headquarters of Golomt Bank, the Mongolian Stock Exchange building (formerly the Eldev-Ochir Cinema: 1946–1948), the Mongolian Telecommunications Building, and the Central Post Office. The eastern side of the square is flanked by the Central Cultural Palace Building and State Ballet and Opera House, built between 1946 and 1949, and the Central Towers, a glass and metal skyscraper completed in 2008. Just east of the Government Palace, on the square’s north-east corner, sits the former home to the State Printing Press, a white two story building designed by German architect Kavel Maher in the 1920s, which re-opened as the Galleria Ulaanbaatar Shopping Mall in 2018. To the south sits the old Lenin Club building (built in 1929) located right next to the modern sail shaped skyscraper, Blue Sky Tower.
Besides the centrally located Sükhbaatar monument, several other statues dot the square’s perimeter including one of former president Jamsrangiin Sambuu on the north-western corner, and another for slain revolutionary leader Sanjaasürengiin Zorig across the intersection on the south-western corner (in front of the Central Post Office)
History
19th-century painting of the Zuun Khuree Monastery located on present day Sukhbaatar Square.
The grounds of the present day government palace and public square were largely occupied by the monastery and temple complex of Ikh Khüree in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This central temple-palace complex was the largest and oldest section of Ulaanbaatar, and was called the Zuun Khuree or Eastern Monastery. An open-air field was located just south of the temple complex and was surrounded on all sides by temples, residences of the nobility and clergy as well as the Baruun Damnuurchin markets. Mongolian wrestling and Tsam dances were often staged there in the presence of nobles and clergy. Over time, it devolved into a dumping ground of the growing city’s refuse. The Bogd Khan would sometimes be seen passing along its edge on his royal procession to the Yellow Palace in the Ikh Khüree temple-palace complex