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Mongolia’s ancient capital, Karakorum was founded in 1220 in the Orkhon river valley, at the crossroads of the Silk Road. The Mongols governed their empire here in Chinggis Khaan’s fabled city until Khubilai Khaan moved the capitol to Beijing. In its heyday, the bustling, busy, big city was the administrative, industrial and cultural capital of the Mongol Empire, and a bridge between the Eastern and Western worlds.

Karakorum was one of the earliest examples of urban planning, recognized for the layout of the city and the architecture of its buildings, which combined the very best of eastern and western trends with the functional style of the nomadic Mongols. Visitors can stroll among the ruins of “Erdene Zuu,” the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. Its monumental walls with 108 stupas are still standing today. Outside the monastery walls there are the two remaining “Turtle rocks,” of the four similar monuments that once marked the boundaries of ancient Karakorum. Nearby, hidden in a small valley among the hills overlooking the monastery, is the perhaps more stimulating “Phallic rock.”

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