{"id":1296,"date":"2024-01-31T15:54:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T14:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orchontal.de\/wordpress\/?page_id=629"},"modified":"2025-04-10T14:48:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:48:53","slug":"walls-gates","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/monuments\/karakorum\/walls-gates\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walls and Gates of Erdene Zuu"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Excavation in the area of the east gate of Erdene Zuu \u00a9 H. Wittersheim \/ DAI<\/span><\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n
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The Excavation at the Walls and Gates of Erdene Zuu<\/h1>\n

With the discovery of the Pavilion of the Rise of the Yuan, another question was open again: Where was the palace of \u00d6gedei Khan, also mentioned in chronicles, reports and the inscription, located?<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In the 2005 and 2006 campaigns, the excavation team from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and the German Archaeological Institute led by Hans-Georg H\u00fcttel also pursued this question. Wilhelm Radloff, who\u00a0 led the Russian Orkhon expedition at the end of the 19th century, had already noticed that the enclosure wall of the Erdene Zuu monastery was founded on an older rampart. This can still be clearly seen today from the fact that the granite blocks that form the foundation of the wall were not set on level ground, but follow the course of the older rampart with their different heights. Radloff therefore assumed that the palace was probably located within this rampart on the site of today’s Erdene Zuu monastery. The archaeologists of the Mongolian-German Karakoram Expedition tested this theory by excavating sections on all four sides of the monastery wall and in the area of the east gate. And indeed: under the foundations of the monastery wall, they found the remains of another rammed earth wall, which was faced with bricks. The remains of an older gate were found under the east gate. Both can be dated to the 13th to 14th century and thus to the time of the old Mongolian capital Karakorum.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Panorama of Erdene Zuu<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Erdene Zuu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Great Hall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Northern district<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Northern gate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Eastern gate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Central crossroads<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Western gate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Large kilns<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To Karabalgasun<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The northern gate of the city's enclosure. Outside the gate was another district, where a muslim cemetery was discovered during excavations.<\/p>\n

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The eastern gate of the city's enclosure. Outside the gate are the remains of a little suburb.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the city's center, the two main roads formed a crossroads. The area has been studied by the University of Bonn and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. The excavtions yielded remains of buildings and workshops, indicating that the chinese craftsmen's quarter was located here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From the western gate, the road led to the banks of the orchon river.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Great Hall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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City center<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kilns<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Erdene Zuu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Three Zuu temples<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Labrang temple<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Palace yurt<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kharkhorum-Museum<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Walls and gates of Erdene Zuu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Great Hall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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City center<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Erdene Zuu-Museum<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In the Kharakhorum-Museum, the history and archaeology of Karakorum and the Orchon valley is presented and explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Erdene Zuu-Museum presents the history of the Erdene Zuu monastery and its religious art and treasures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

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Excavations on the Erdene Zuu wall revealed the foundations of an older wall beneath it <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure> \n
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Excavations on the Erdene Zuu wall revealed the foundations of an older wall beneath it <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure> \n
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Excavations on the Erdene Zuu wall revealed the foundations of an older wall beneath it <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure> \n
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Excavations on the Erdene Zuu wall revealed the foundations of an older wall beneath it <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure> \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n
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The Palace Description by Wilhelm von Rubruk<\/h2>\n
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According to Rubruk’s description, the palace was located close to the city wall, but was surrounded by its own brick wall. These features can be found on the site of the Erdene Zuu monastery. The palace of \u00d6gedei Khan and his successors could therefore have been located here. This also means that the layout of the city of Karakorum followed the rules of a Mongol encampment. The Khan’s yurt was always set up in the far south. The quarters of his followers were located to the right and left and behind the ruler’s residence. This principle was also applied in Karakorum: The palace is located to the south of the city complex, which, according to the Mongol view, is located behind the palace.<\/p>\n

What exactly the palace looked like is unknown. It has not yet been archaeologically investigated in detail. The various depictions in contemporary written sources provide a clue. Juvaini, for example, describes the layout of the palace as a spacious garden above the city, surrounded by a large wall and four gates. In the middle of the garden, Chinese craftsmen built a palace with a throne room in which the raised throne, accessible from four sides, was erected. The palace building was surrounded by other houses where the ruler’s relatives stayed.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n

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Rubruk, in turn, mentions a large residence in his description of the city, in the entrance area of which a tree made of silver with rich decorations served as a bar for five different drinks. According to his description, the palace itself had three naves with three portals facing south. Inside, the ruler’s throne was located on the north side, while the women of the court were placed on the east side and the men on the west side. This spatial arrangement corresponds to that which is also common in Mongolian yurts today.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panorama of Erdene Zuu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1151,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1296","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1894,"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1296\/revisions\/1894"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orchontal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}