{"id":1273,"date":"2023-12-05T10:59:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T09:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/orchantal\/?page_id=140"},"modified":"2025-04-24T16:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T14:00:49","slug":"research-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/monuments\/karakorum\/research-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Research History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Extract from the plan by the archaeologist Bukinic <\/span><\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n
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The Research History of Karakorum<\/h1>\n

The archaeological and historical exploration of the city of Karakorum has a long history. While the significance of the ruins near the Erdene Zuu monastery has never been completely forgotten in Mongolian historiography, European scholars have long puzzled over the location and history of the city.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In Search of the Lost City<\/h2>\n
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As Karakorum was briefly the center of the Mongolian Empire in the Middle Ages, it was mentioned in numerous medieval written sources, for example in Marco Polo’s travelogue. Even in the Middle Ages, the city was recorded on the maps of various cultures according to travelers’ reports. For example, the city first appeared on a European map in the Catalan Atlas of 1375. Karakorum is also mentioned on Chinese maps from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Nevertheless, the exact location of the city after its destruction was unknown except to some Mongolian scholars. Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Ferdinand Verbiest gained high positions at the court of the Ming and Manchu emperors and enjoyed the trust of the rulers. From the 17th century onwards, the Manchu Qing dynasty ruled China, Tibet, East Turkestan and Mongolia. This made it possible for missionaries to obtain information about these regions. In the 18th century, an atlas of the Qing Empire was published, which also included the Erdene Zuu Monastery and the ruins of Karabalgasun. In 1739, the Jesuit missionary and historian Antoine Gaubil published a history of the Mongol rulers from Genghis Khan to the end of the Yuan dynasty, based on his translation of Chinese sources. The exact location of the historical Karakorum has been the subject of repeated speculation. Gaubil already suspected the city to be in the region east of the Khangai Mountains.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n

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The Ruins of Karakorum<\/h2>\n

In 1824, the French doctor, sinologist and librarian Jean-Pierre-Abel R\u00e9musat attempted to localize Karakorum more precisely by studying Chinese written sources. He established a connection with the nearby Karabalgasun and correctly assumed that the city was already located on the Orkhon River. Just five years later, the work of the Russian monk Iakinf, whose real name was Nikita Jakovlevi\u010d Bi\u010durin, was published. He also referred to Chinese chronicles and located Karakorum in the correct region. In a footnote, he indicated the location of the city on the eastern side of the Changaj Mountains between the Orkhon and Tamir rivers. Finally, in 1883, the Russian Mongolist Aleksej Matveevi\u010d Pozdneev identified Karakorum with the city ruins next to the Erdene zuu monastery. However, this was only a “discovery” from a European perspective. Mongolian scholars in the 19th century were aware of the connection between Erdene zuu and the Mongol rulers of the Middle Ages from their own historical works. Pozdneev took this information from the Mongolian chronicle “Erdeny-yin erike”, which was translated into Russian.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n