Ruins of Kherlen Bar (from the Khitan period) to be restored

Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Mongolia and State Administration of Cultural Heritage signed a cooperation agreement to restore and repair the ruins of an ancient urban settlement Kherlen bars in Mongolia.

The agreement was inked by Altangerel Purev, State secretary of the Mongolian Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry, and Yang Qingdong, Political counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia on June 13^th. 

Kherlen bars, some small-scale ruins and a 3 m high tower from a 12th century city, once part of the ancient state of Kitan is one of the ancient monuments remained in Mongolia. Under the agreement Chinese and Mongolian specialists will restore the unique site.

English.news.mn  June 13, 2014

The walled city of Kherlen Bars in Dornod province, far eastern Mongolia, was a leading Khitan urban center dating to ca. 10th - 12th century. The Khitans, who created the Liao empire in northeastern China, had a language that was expressed in two independent writing systems but is now extinct and only partially deciphered. Many Khitan documents have been recovered from the Kherlen Bars ruins; further progress in deciphering the language depends on the acquisition of more texts. To protect these rare archaeological resources, the site has been listed for protection as a world heritage site by UNESCO. Its Buddhist stupa is the largest standing in Mongolia today.