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Photo: Chongkian, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The complete fossil of the Tarbosaurus bataar — a close cousin of the larger T. Rex that serves as the centerpiece of this museum's impressive collection — was stolen from Mongolia by American archaeologist Eric Prokopi and auctioned in New York for $1 million. The ensuing news coverage set off an international criminal case resulting in Prokopi's arrest and the return of dozens of dinosaur fossils to Mongolia by the U.S. government, which make up the bulk of this museum's collection. In the former Lenin Museum on Freedom Square, the museum contains a couple dozen other complete dinosaur fossils besides the Tarbosaurus, all of which were found in the Gobi Desert.
The Natural History Museum is a repository and research institution located in Chingeltei, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The museum was previously known as the Mongolian National Museum or State Central Museum.
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Чингис хаан Үндэсний музей
This modern museum covers the broad sweep of Mongolian imperial history from early tribal kingdoms up to the beginning of the era of domination by China. There are some English-language explanations, and QR codes for everything else.
Монголын Үндэсний музей
This museum holds the most important artifacts of Mongolia's rich history dating back several thousand years. These include ethnographic displays of various Mongolian tribes, petroglyphs and cave drawings, Turkic monuments, weapons, armor, and various displays from the various eras of Mongolian history: the Hun and Mongol Empires, Chinese rule, the Communist era, and the democratic revolution of 1990. There are displays of self-portraits and personal possessions of Genghis Khan and other great khans of the Mongol Empire. Most displays are in English and Mongolian.
Gandantegchinlen Khiid or Gandan Monastery
The main monastery in the city has services around 10:00 every morning. It is one of the few monasteries in the country that were spared during the Communist purges of the 1930s.