There is almost nothing left of the great city today, but the Erdene Zuu monastery was built with bricks from the ruins of Karakorum in 1586, including a stone from the ancient city with Arabic script.

Around 1000 monks once lived at this large monastery with 61 temples surrounded by 108 stupors, which covered an area of over 400 square meters.The main temple was built in honour of Zanabazar who brought Buddhism to the country, and inside are legends of Buddha and Buddhist beliefs.

A few of the buildings were damaged in the 1930s by Stalin’s purges when the monastery was shut down, but the outer walls and large temples remain and it is now a functioning monastery again. The temples and museum at Erdene Zuu house some of Mongolia’s most precious art treasures from the 16th to 19th centuries, including works by Zanazabar.