Chinggis Square | |
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Public square | |
Mongolian: Их эзэн Чингис хааны нэрэмжит талбай | |
Panorama of Chinggis Khaan Square looking east |
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Surface: | concrete |
Location: | Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia |
Coordinates: 47°55′08″N 106°55′03″E / 47.91889°N 106.91750°E |
Chinggis Square (Mongolian: Чингисийн талбай, pronounced Chinggisiin Talbai), formally Grand Chinggis Khaan Square, and previously known as Sükhbaatar Square (Mongolian: Сүхбаатарын талбай, pronounced Sükhbaatariin Talbai), is the central square of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. The official name was changed in 2013 in honor of Genghis Khan, considered the founding father of Mongolia. The city's residents still refer it by the original name. A large colonnade monument to Genghis Khan, as well as to Ögedei Khan, and Kublai Khan dominates the square's north side directly in front of the Saaral Ordon (Government Palace). The center of the square features an equestrian statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, one of the leaders of Mongolia's 1921 revolution.
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. On the square's western side sits the headquarters of the Ulaanbaatar Bank, Ulaanbaatar City Administration building, the headquarters of Golomt Bank, the 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. To the south sits the old Lenin Club building (built in 1929 located right next to the modern sail shaped skyscraper, Blue Sky Tower.