Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape

Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Mongolia
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv
Reference	1081
Region**	Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	2004  (28th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape sprawls along the banks of the Orkhon River in Central Mongolia, some 360 km west from the capital Ulaanbaatar. It was inscribed by UNESCO in the World Heritage List as representing evolution of nomadic pastoral traditions spanning more than two millennia.

Importance

For many centuries, the Orkhon Valley was viewed as the seat of the imperial power of the steppes. The first evidence comes from a stone stele with runic inscriptions, which was erected in the valley by Bilge Khan, an 8th-century ruler of the Göktürk Empire. Some 25 miles to the north of the stele, in the shadow of the sacred forest-mountain Ötüken, was his Ördü, or nomadic capital. During the Qidan domination of the valley, the stele was reinscribed in three languages, so as to record the deeds of a Qidan potentate.

Mountains were considered sacred in Tengriism as an axis mundi, but Ötüken was especially sacred because the ancestor spirits of the khagans and beys resided here. Moreover, a force called qut was believed to emanate from this mountain, granting the khagan the divine right to rule the Turkic tribes. Whoever controlled this valley was considered heavenly appointed leader of the Turks and could rally the tribes. Thus control of the Orkhon Valley was of the utmost strategic importance for every Turkic state. Historically every Turkic capital (Ördü) was located here for this exact reason.

Sites

The main monuments of the Orkhon Valley are as follows:

Khar Balgas

Ruins of Khar Balgas, an 8th-century capital of the Uyghur Empire, which cover 50 square km and contain evidence of the palace, shops, temples, and monasteries.

Ordu-Baliq (also spelled Ordu Balykh, Ordu Balik, Ordu-Baliq, Ordu Balig, Ordu Baligh, meaning "city of the court"), also known as Mubalik, was the capital of the first Uyghur Empire, built on the site of the former Göktürk imperial capital, 17 km north-to-northeast of the later Mongol capital, Karakorum. Its ruins are known as Kharabalghasun (Karabalgasun, Kara Balgasun, Khar Balgas), that is, "black city". They form part of the World Heritage Site Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape.

The west gate as seen from the citadel

Location

Ordu-Baliq is situated in a grassy plain called the Talal-khain-dala teppe, on the western bank of the Orkhon River in the Khotont sum of the Arkhangai Province, Mongolia, 16 km northeast of the Khotont village, or 30 km north-to-northwest of Kharkhorin. The Orkhon emerges from the gorges of the Khangai Mountains and flows northward to meet the Tuul River (on whose upper reaches the current capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, is located). A favorable micro-climate makes the location ideal for pasturage, and it lies along the most important east-west route across Mongolia. As a result, the Orkhon Valley was a center of habitation and important political and economic activity long prior to the birth of Genghis Khan who made it known to the wider world.

History

In 744, after the defeat of the last Göktürk Kaghan by the Uigur-Qarluk-Basmyl alliance, the Uyghurs under Bayanchur Khan established their imperial capital Ordu Baliq on the site of the old ördü ("nomadic capital"). Apparently designed by Sogdian architects, Ordu Baliq is believed to have been the earliest walled city in Mongolia. Ordu-Baliq flourished until 840, when it was ruined by the invading Yenisey Kyrgyzes.

The capital occupied 25 square kilometers. The ruins of the town, which include the 10 meter high town wall, a 12 meter high tower and another 14 meter high sentry tower, clearly indicate that Ordu Baliq was an affluent and large town. The urban area may be divided into three main parts. The central part consisting of numerous buildings surrounded by a continuous wall forms the biggest part. Ruin of a large number of temples and dwelling houses are to be found to the south beyond the center. The Khan's residential palace, which was also ringed by high walls on all sides, stood in the northeastern part of the town, where the Russian archaeologist Nikolay Yadrintsev discovered a green granite monument with a statue of a dragon perched at the top and bearing a runic inscription glorifying the khagans.

Ordu Baliq was a fully-fortified commandry and commercial entrepot typical of the central points along the length of the Silk Road. The well-preserved remains now consist of concentric fortified walls and lookout towers, stables, military and commercial stores, and administrative buildings. There are also remains of a water drainage system there. Archaeologists established that certain areas of the town were allotted for trade and handcrafts, while in the center of the town were palaces and temples, including a monastery. The palace had fortified walls around it and two main gates, north and south, as well as moats filled with water and watchtowers.

An Arab ambassador from the Samanid Empire, Tamim ibn Bahr, visited Ordu Baliq in 821 C.E. and left the only written account of the city. He travelled through uninhabited steppes until arriving in the vicinity of the Uighur capital. He described Ordu-Baliq itself as a great town, "rich in agriculture and surrounded by rustaqs (villages) full of cultivation lying close together. The town had twelve iron gates of huge size. The town was populous and thickly crowded and had markets and various trades." The most colorful detail of his description is the 100-foot (30 m)-high golden yurt on top of the citadel where the khagan held court.

Discovery

In 1871, the Russian traveller Paderin was the first European to visit the ruins of the Uighur capital, of which only the wall and a tower were in existence, while the streets and ruins outside the wall could be seen at a distance. He was told that the Mongols call it either Kara Balghasun ("black city") or khara-kherem ("black wall"). Paderin's belief that this was the old Mongol capital Karakorum has been shown to be incorrect.

The Mongolian Karakorum, has been identified by several authorities with a site on which the 16th century Buddhist monastery of Erdene Zuu was built, some 17 km to the southeast. North and north-east of the monastery are ruins of ancient buildings. The site was identified as a ruined Uyghur capital by the expedition of Nikolay Yadrintsev in 1889, and the two expeditions of the Helsingfors Ugro-Finnish society (1890), followed by that of the Russian Academy of Sciences, under Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff (1891).

Karakorum

Ruins of Genghis Khan's capital Karakorum which could have included the famed Xanadu palace.

Erdene Zuu Monastery

Erdene Zuu monastery is the first Buddhist monastery established in Mongolia. It was partly destroyed by Communist authorities in 1937-40.

Additional Significant Sites

• Early eighth century Turkic memorials to Bilge Khan and Kul Tigin with their Orkhon inscriptions are admittedly the most impressive monuments from the nomadic Göktürk Empire. They were excavated and deciphered by Russian archaeologists in 1889-93.

• Remains of the thirteenth and fourteenth century Mongol palace at Doit Hill, thought to be Ögedei Khan's residence.

• Tuvkhun Hermitage is another spectacular monastery, overlooking a hill at 2,600 meters above sea-level. It was almost totally destroyed by the Communists.

Panorama of the Orkhon

See also

• Architecture of Mongolia
• Khara-Khoto
• Uyghur Empire

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Drompp, Michael Robert (2005). Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History. Brill, 366. ISBN 9004141294. 
• Minorsky, V. (1948). Tamīm ibn Baḥr's Journey to the Uyghurs. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 12 (2): 31.

External Links

• Glazier, James (2005-09-24). Khar Balgasyn Tuur - Ruins of Uigher Capital (8th Century). Indiana University. Retrieved 2006.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Orkhon_Valley  ^history
• Ordu-Baliq  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.