Don Croner Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage | Flora |Black-eyed and Brown-eyed Susans

See Black-eyed and Brown-eyed Susans over at Don Croner Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage.

Brown-eyed Susan

Iran | Sultaniyya | Mausoleum of Ilkhan Ölziit

Wandered by the town of Sultaniyya, site of the mausoleum of Öljeitü (Ölziit in Mongolian), the eighth Ilkhan. Ölziit was the great-grandson Khülegü Khan, founder of the Ilkhanate, and the great-great-great-grandson of Chingis Khan. It was Ölziit (r. 1305–1316) who had moved the capital of the Ilkhanate from Tabriz to Sultaniyya, 175 miles to the southeast. At the insistence of his mother Uruk Khatun, a Nestorian Christian, he had been baptized as a Christian and given the name Nicholas. When he was still in his teens, however, he married a Muslim girl, and apparently under her influence he converted to Islam. At first he was a Sunni Muslim, but he eventually became disillusioned by Nit-Picking Sunni Jurists and switched to Shiism. Perhaps to burnish his credentials as a Shiite he hatched a scheme to move the bodies of the two proto-martyrs of Shiism, Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, and Ali’s son Husain, from their shrines in Iraq to Sultaniyya and house them in an enormous mausoleum of his own making. It is not quite clear if he also intended the building to be a mausoleum for himself.  The mausoleum was built, but the plan to move the remains of Ali and Husain to Sultaniyya came to naught.  The building ended up as the repository for Ölziit’s own remains. 

The structure is 161 feet high, with a dome eighty-four feet in diameter, reportedly the third largest brick dome in the world. Larger are the brick domes of the Cathedral of Florence in Italy (138 feet), and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (103 feet). Apart from brick domes, the largest dome in the world is the steel dome of Cowboys Stadium in Texas, built by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the Khülegü of our age (click on photos for enlargements).

For comparison, here is the dome of Hagia Sophia

Mausoleum of Ölziit

Mausoleum of Ölziit

Mausoleum of Ölziit

Mausoleum of Ölziit

Mausoleum of Ölziit

Mausoleum of Ölziit

The vast interior of the mausoleum is undergoing renovation 

Interior of the mausoleum

The interior of the mausoleum was once covered with decoration. This eight-foot high panel is one of few surviving examples.

Catacomb under the mausoleum. This space may have been built for the remains of Ali and Husain.

The open walkway just below the dome

The open walkway just below the dome

Decoration of walkway

Decoration of walkway

Detail of decoration

View of Sultaniyya from open walkway.  Sultaniyya, once the capital of the Ilkhanate, is now a sleepy little town with a population of just over 5000. The freeway from Tehran to Tabriz passes by three miles away and many people make a side trip to Sultaniyya for its justly famous kebabs. We had lamb kebabs in Sultaniyya and they certainly lived up to their reputation.  

Iran | Alamut | Assassins

Wandered by Alamut, the old stronghold of the Nizari Ismailis, better known in the Occident as the Assassins. The fortress was founded in 1090 by Hassan-i Sabbah and lasted until 1256, when it was finally conquered by Khülegü Khan, grandson of Chingis Khan. 

Elburz Mountains west of Alamut (click on photos for enlargements)

The village of Gazor Khan on the left and the Alamut massif on the right

Sign welcoming tourists to Gazor Khan

The Alamut Massif

When we arrived at the village we were told by local people that there had been a big snow storm the week before and the backside of the massif was still covered with deep drifts. They claimed it was impossible to reach the fortress at the top. We decided to try anyhow and started up the first of the staircases leading to the summit.  We had not gone far when a group of Iranian tourists, three men and two women from Tehran, came stumbling down. They confirmed that it was impossible to reach the fortress because of the snow. This was quite a disappointment, considering that visiting the ruins of Alamut was one of my main reasons for coming to Iran.   

The first staircase. Although it does not look so daunting in this photo, it was actually quite treacherous. Above this staircase, the back side of the mountain was completely drifted shut.

The massif of Alamut in the foreground

Another view of the massif. The fortress buildings can just be seen at the top

Another view of the fortress at the top of the massif

Another view of the fortress at the top of the massif (middle of photo). The column-like structures on the snow covered ridge behind the massif look manmade, but actually they are natural rock formations. 

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Seventh Nine Nine | Doviin Tolgoi Borlono

The Seventh of the so-called Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—began on February 14. The Seventh of the Nine-Nines is Doviin Tolgoi Borlono, the “time when the tops of the hills become brown.” It is still relatively cold,—18ºF at 4:oo AM with an expected high of 18ºF this afternoon,  but snow has melted off a lot of hilltops, including the top of Zaisan Tolgoi (Nobleman’s Hill),  the hill that gives my neighborhood its name. 

Zaisan Tolgoi

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Sixth Nine-Nine | Zuraasan Zam Garnai

The sixth of the so-called Nine Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—begins February 5. This is Zuraasan Zam Garnai, the Time When the Trail of the Road Appears. This description would seem to indicate a slight warming from the previous Nine-Nines, a time when well-traveled trails become free from ice and snow. We did have a slight warm spell, with temperatures getting up to the high teens on some afternoons. At 4:00 AM today the temperature was —20ºF with a high of —4ºF expected this afternoon. 

Actually, in days past it has been warmer here than in the town nearest to my Summer Retreat in the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. 

Mongolia | New Book | Wanders in the Khentii Mountains of Mongolia | Burkhan Khaldun of the Uriangkhai and Chingis Khan’s Hitching Post

I made my first trip into the Khentii Mountains in 1997. While we were riding up the east bank of the Kherlen Gol Zevgee pointed out to our left the summit of 7534-foot Erdene Uul. On the ridgeline just south of the summit could be seen a protuberance of rock that Zevgee said was known as Chingis Khan’s Hitching Post. According to local legend Chingis and the rest of his army tied their horses to this stone hitching post. “What was a whole army doing near the summit of a 7,534-foot mountain?” I wondered. “No, no,” Zevgee had replied, “Only Chingis Khan tied his horse to the Hitching Post. Look other there,” he went on, pointing to a mountain on the other side of the valley six or seven miles away. “That mountain is called Dash Norov. On the ridge to the left you can see another rock that was used as a hitching post.” Indeed, there was a small bump on the ridge. “Chingis Khan’s armies stretched a rope between the rock on Erdene Uul and the rock on Dash Norov and to this rope they tethered their horses.” I burst out laughing. I had thought he had been referring to actual hitching posts, but obviously this is just a phantasmagorical legend. But when my translator explained why I was laughing Zevgee replied enigmatically, “Who knows? Maybe things were different in those days.” 

Passing by Erdene Uul that first time I had asked Zevgee if it was possible to ride horses up to Chingis Khan‘s Hitching Post. He had been there himself, he said, the trail was difficult but doable. I filed this information away for the future. When l later learned that the authors of the Chinggis Khan Atlas had posited that Erdene Uul was the Burkhan Khaldun of Uriangkhai and that it was on this mountain that Temüjin, the future Chingis Khan, had escaped from the Merkids who had kidnapped his wife I decided to return and ascend the mountain myself.

I showed up at Zevgee’s ger at the confluence of the Kherlen Gol and the Terelj Gol, ten miles northeast of the village of Möngönmort, unannounced. With me was Delgermaa, a woman in her early twenties whom I had enlisted as translator and factotum. I figured the ascent of Erdene Uul, which was only fourteen miles north of Zevgee’s ger, should take no more than three days. By that time Zevgee had turned over the handling of his sheep, cow, and horse herds to his sons, and I was hoping that he would have free time to do the trip. We retired to Zevgee’s ger where I offered his wife Tumen-Ölzii a kilo of hard candies and a large watermelon I had brought along from Ulaanbaatar. As we refreshed ourselves with milk tea, homemade cheese (byaslag ), and fried bread (boortsog) I explained to Zevgee that I wanted to make a horse trip to Chingis Khan’s Hitching Post on Erdene Uul, which he had pointed out to me on our first trip together. He laughed and said, “I knew you would come back someday to visit that mountain . . .” Continued.

Erdene Uul

Chingis Khan’s Hitching Post

Wanders in the Khentii Mountains

of Mongolia

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Full Moon

The Full Snow Moon occurs here today at 6:09 AM. The Moon will be 230,536 miles from the Earth at this time. 

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac:

Other names for this month’s Moon have historically had a connection to animals. The Cree traditionally called this the Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon. The Ojibwe Bear Moon and Tlingit Black Bear Moon refer to the time when bear cubs are born. The Dakota also call this the Raccoon Moon; certain Algonquin peoples named it the Groundhog Moon, and the Haida named it Goose Moon. Another theme of this month’s Moon names is scarcity. The Cherokee names of Month of the Bony Moon and Hungry Moon give evidence to the fact that food was hard to come by at this time.

Lunar Forecast for tonight:

Starts Feb 2, 2026 06:20 PM

Ends Feb 3, 2026 07:40 PM

Undertaking:

After a stormy second phase of the moon, on the sixteenth day is a day of peace and tranquility. It is not necessary to begin large and complex affairs that require great effort. Devote this day to beginning uncomplicated small projects. With the new lunar phase it is good to introduce new habits. Start changing your schedule to suit your biorhythms and see how your productivity changes. You can get good results if you start working on your health: signing up for a workout, starting a treatment regimen, etc. Avoid losing sense of calm and balance. Avoid negative thoughts, aggression, screaming and anger, hate and jealousy, being provocative and loud. Animal food is not recommended. Sex is not recommended.

Mongolia | Khentii Mountains | New Book | Burkhan Khaldun Khora

The Khentii Mountain Range includes the headwaters of the Tuul, Onon, and Kherlen rivers—an area known as the Three Rivers Region.

In 1997 I did a ten-day horse trip to the Onon Hot Springs and the beginning of the Onon River in Khentii Aimag, northeast of Ulaanbaatar, as described in my book Wanders in Northern Mongolia. On the return leg of the trip I ascended 7,749-foot Burkhan Khaldun, also known as Khentii Khan Uul, arguably the most sacred mountain in Mongolia. The mountain is mentioned in the Secret History of the Mongols, a thirteenth-century account of the rise of the Mongols under Chingis Khan, and it was here, according to the Secret History, that Temüjin—the future Chingis Khan—hid from the Merkid tribesmen who had kidnapped his wife and wanted to capture him. According to legend, Chingis Khan also came here to pray before embarking on his military campaigns. Later the mountain would be inextricably bound up in the cult of Chingis Khan and also become a pilgrimage site for Buddhists. Still later some would claim that Chingis Khan was born near Burkhan Khaldun and was buried on its summit.

Not long after my trip two Mongolian historians, D. Bazargür and D. Enkhbayar, published a book entitled Chinggis Khaan Atlas. The Atlas contained thirty-seven maps (including insets) depicting in great detail the locations of many places and events mentioned in the Secret History of the Mongols. After I had studied the Atlas in detail and interviewed Bazargür and Enkhbayar I decided that I would return to the Burkhan Khaldun area and visit some of the places shown on the maps. 

In the meantime I had made a pilgrimage to 21,778-foot Mount Kailash, the sacred mountain in Tibet worshipped by Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Bönpos (followers of the Bön religion), shamans, and others, and by then also a favorite destination for adventure tourism. No one is allowed to climb to the summit of Mount Kailash, but thousands of people a year circumambulate the mountain via a thirty-two-mile-long path. A pilgrimage circuit of a sacred place like Kailash is known as a khora. Khoras are always done clockwise around the sacred place or object, unless you are a contrarian Bönpo, who do khoras counter-clockwise (I encountered several Bönpos walking counter-clockwise around Mount Kailash). The Kailash khora, the high point of which is the 18,200-foot Drölma Pass, is a strenuous endeavor. The week I was in the Kailash area at least ten people perished while circumambulating the mountain. Several, reportedly, were elderly Hindus from India who may have come here, consciously or unconsciously, to transmigrate at this sacred place. Some hardy Tibetans, however, do the khora in one day. Most people take two or three days (I made it in two and a half days).

Mount Kailash

After returning from Kailash I got the idea of doing a khora around Burkhan Khaldun, which without stretching the imagination too much could be considered Mongolia’s equivalent of Mount Kailash. I would of course not do the khora on foot but by horse, the traditional mode of travel in Mongolia. From what I could determine in Ulaanbaatar from talking to knowledgeable people, including several lamas familiar with sacred mountains, there was no tradition of doing a khora around Burkhan Khaldun. I was assured, however, that there was no law, custom, or tradition forbidding a khora of the mountain. Burkhan Khaldun was within the boundaries of the 4,740 square-mile Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area, the Mongolian equivalent of a national park, and permits were needed to make extended trips in the area, but these could be easily obtained from the Strictly Protected Area offices in Ulaanbaatar . . . Continued.

Route of Burkhan Khaldun Khora

Approaching the summit of Burkhan Khaldun

Wanders in the Khentii Mountains
of Mongolia

USA | Allegheny Mountains | Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail | Flora | Asters

See Asters over at Great Allegheny Passage Bike Trail.

Azure Aster

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | Fifth Nine-Nine | Waxing Gibbous Moon | Tavisan Budaa Khöldökhgui

The Fifth of the Nine-Nines—nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather—began on January 27. This is Tavisan Budaa Khöldökhgui, the time when “Cooked Rice Cannot Be Frozen.” I must admit I really don’t understand the definition of this period. Maybe someone can explain it to me? Anyhow, this morning, the fourth day of the fifth Nine-Nine, the temperature at 4:00 AM was  —20º F with a high this afternoon projected to be 7ºF. This is considerable warmer than the Fourth Nine-Nine, when temperatures got down to –44ºF, so maybe we are over the hump as far as cold weather is concerned. 

Today is also the 12th Moon Day. The Waxing Gibbous Moon is 87.5% illuminated.

Waxing Gibbous Moon

The Full Snow Moon will occur here on February 2 at 6:09 AM. 

Mongolia | Zaisan Tolgoi | First Quarter Moon

The First Quarter Moon, or Eighth Moon Day, 0ccurs in Zaisan Tolgoi today at 12:47 PM. At this time the Moon will be 231,152 miles from Earth. The Waxing Gibbous Moon begins tomorrow. The Full Snow Moon will be in seven days. 

First Quarter Moon

In most Buddhist and Hindu lunar traditions, the eighth moon day is regarded as “auspicious”, especially for practice, offerings, and ritual observance. Tibetan practice calendars list the 8th, 15th, and 30th days of each lunar month as “auspicious” days for Dharma practice. The 8th lunar day is specifically highlighted as a special day for Tara and often Medicine Buddha; many  monasteries schedule Tara puja on the 8th, and some resources call it a “supreme’’ activity day.

White Tara thangka made for me by Mongolian artiste Soyolma

In the early Buddhist context, the 8th lunar day is one of the traditional uposatha observance days (along with the 14th/15th and sometimes 23rd), when laypeople keep extra precepts and monastics perform formal observances.Texts describe devas’ ministers inspecting the world on the 8th day, which is treated as a time for humans to live righteously and renew commitment, again giving it a positive, practice‑oriented character.

On the Hindu side, Purāṇic sources describe the eighth lunar day (ashtamī) as a “highly auspicious” time for worship, fasting, pilgrimage, and special vows, promising purification and spiritual benefit when observed properly.

So across these major lunar‑based traditions, the 8th moon day is consistently framed as an auspicious day, particularly powerful for virtuous action, ritual, and meditation.

On the other hand, Witches describe the 8th lunar day as unfavorable for oaths and promises, so not a great time to swear binding commitments, start long projects, or marry. It is, however, a good day for preparing Herbal Tinctures.

Tibet | Russia | Agvan Dorzhiev | Russian Embassies

In 1898 Agvan Dorzhiev made the first of several embassies to Russia. He had first come to the attention of Russian Czar Nicholas II through the intrigues of a fellow Buryat, Pyotr Badmaev (c.1850–1920), who after moving to St. Petersburg had made a name for himself as a practitioner of Tibetan herbal medicine. His family name was probably a Russian corruption of padma, as in the name of Padmasambhava (“Lotus-born”), the legendary founder of Tibetan Buddhism. He married a wealthy Russian noblewoman and was soon circulating in the very highest levels of Russian society. According to one account:

In the 1890s, Peter Badmaev’s medical practice in Saint Petersburg gained considerable popularity . . . Many representatives of Russian political elite were personally acquainted with him, since, along with medical practice, Badmaev was actively engaged in social and political activities, trying to provide an assistance to expand Russian imperial influence in Asia, and, therefore, met many high-ranking public officials.

Pyotr Badmaev

Soon he was counseling the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Asian Bureau. Opining that the Qing Dynasty in China was on its last legs, in 1893 he proposed to high-ranking Russian officials, including the Russian Finance Minister, Count Sergei Witte, who was one of his patients (he was also a first cousin of Madame Helena Blavatsky), that Russia annex Mongolia, Tibet, and Manchuria once they were free from Qing domination. “Mongolia, Tibet and China represent the future of Russia. May we hold together in our hands Europe and Asia all the way from the shores of the Pacific ocean to the heights of the Himalaya,” he trumpeted, elaborating:

. . . Russia’s destiny was to rule over continental Asia because the Russian Emperor was in fact the White Tsar . . . [who] ought to be considered either as the reincarnation of the Buddhist goddess Dara-eke [Tara], who freed beings from suffering (in Mongol belief), or as the emanation of the king of the mystical kingdom of Shamballah, a reservoir of beneficial forces, a sort of heaven whose kings were divinities close to Vishnu (in Tibetan belief).

Witte, while not proposing that Russia annex Tibet, recognized its strategic significance. In a letter to Czar Nicholas ii he wrote:

 . . . the geographic position of Tibet is politically greatly important to Russia, especially in view of the British attempt to penetrate into that country and bring it under their political and economic influence. Russia, according to my conviction, should make every attempt to foil the British attempt to establish her influence in Tibet. 

Badmaev was instrumental in asserting Russian influence in Tibet. Using a loan of two million rubles from the Russian government, he established a trading house in the city of Chita, in Buryatia, ostensibly to buy medicinal herbs for his medical practice. The business also served as a cover for intelligence operations. In 1895 a group of Badmaev's agents operating out of Chita made its way to Lhasa disguised as pilgrims. One of the agents was a Buryat named  Ochir Jigjitov. According to one historian, “The Buryat's task was presumably to collect economic and political information on Tibet. Doijiev received his compatriot secretly and in order to conceal the true purpose of Ochir's visit he presented him to the Tibetan officials in the Potala as an ordinary Mongol pilgrim.”

Dorzhiev was also sending intelligence briefings to Badmaev, one of which was leaked to the St. Petersburg newspaper Novoye Vremya. British agents in St. Petersburg in turn sent a précis of the newspaper article back to London:

In this report, the customs of Lhasa and the intrigues surrounding the Dalai Lama are described. His Court consists of a number of Lamas divided into parties and quarrelling among each other. The party in power holds the seals and acts in the Dalai Lama's name. The latter is indifferent to party strife, and is concerned only that his authority should not be diminished, so that the people should continue to revere him. As a diminution of his authority is contrary to the interests of the parties, he remains outside their disputes.

Dorzhiev’s activities earned him the gratitude of Czar Nicholas II. In 1896 the Dalai Lama sent Dorzhiev back to Buryatia on a mission to strengthen the Dharma among the Buryats. While staying at Atsagat Datsan near Khara Shiber, his birthplace, Russian officials presented him with an inscribed gold watch, a gift from the Czar himself to show his appreciation for the assistance Dorzhiev had provided Badmaev’s agents in Lhasa.

Prince Esper Esperovich Ukhtomsky, yet another of Badmaev’s patients, arranged Dorzhiev’s first visit to Russia. Ukhtomsky who, like artist, mystic, spy, arch-intriguer, and hard-core Aghartian-Shambhalist Nicholas Roerich, traced his ancestors back to Rurik, the Scandinavian chieftain who in the year 862 was invited to Novgorod, in Russia, where he founded the first ruling dynasty of medieval Russia. Ukhtomsky’s lineage may have been genuine; Roerich’s Was Fabricated. (The family of Madame Helena Blavatsky, the Dolgorukovs—Blavatsky was her married name)—also claimed to be descended from Rurik.) 

Helena Blavatsky

A young Helena Blavatsky

In any case, Ukhtomsky was at home in the very highest levels of the Russian aristocracy. He was the principal companion and advisor to Crown Prince Nicholas Alexandrovich on the future Czar’s Grand Tour of the East, which lasted from October 1890 to May 1891 and made stops in Egypt, Yemen, India, Ceylon, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, China, and Japan. Ukhtomsky also traveled on his own to China, Mongolia, and Buryatia, where he made in-depth studies of Buddhism and amassed over 3000 Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese artifacts, said to be the largest collection of Asian art in Russia. By the mid-1890s, he was "the only member of the Russian elite to proclaim himself a Buddhist.” 

Prince Esper Esperovich Ukhtomsky

Ukhtomsky eventually became one of the chief spokesmen for Vostochichestvo, or Easternism, which proclaimed that Russia's true cultural and historical affinities lay with Asia rather than Europe. Ukhtomsky maintained that Russia was at heart an Asian civilization and possessed both a manifest destiny to lead the Asian world and a moral obligation to protect Asian peoples, particularly those of Buddhist cultural traditions, from Occidental colonialism. Specifically, Ukhtomsky wrote: “Trans-Baikalia [essentially Buryatia] is the key to the heart of Asia, the forward post of Russian civilization on the frontiers of the ‘Yellow Orient.’” Thus when he learned that a Buryat by the name of Agvan Dorzhiev, who was also a Russian citizen, was one of the Dalai Lama’s chief advisors and had already been of assistance to Badmaev’s spies in Lhasa it was only natural that he would invite him to Russia to discuss Russia’s role in keeping Tibet out of the clutches of British colonialism.

At Ukhtomsky’s invitation Dorzhiev proceeded to Russia. According to his own account he took a rather roundabout way. Instead of following the traditional caravan route north to Mongolia and on to Russia, he traveled south to Darjeeling in India and then to Calcutta. Here he apparently caught a steamship to Tientsin in China. He proceeded to Beijing and then took the traditional caravan route through Kalgan (modern-day Zhangjiakou) to Örgöö (Ulaanbaatar) and hence north to Russia. The Trans-Siberian Railroad had not yet reached Irkutsk, the Russian city on the Angara River, the outlet of Lake Baikal, 135 miles north of the Mongolian border, but at some point east of Irkutsk Dorzhiev and his traveling companion, the high-ranking Buryat official Taisan Tseten, boarded the train and continued on to St. Petersburg.  Ukhtomsky met them when they arrived in St. Petersburg and they were taken to the Peterhof, the immense palace built by Peter the Great. 

The Peterhof in St. Petersburg

Here Dorzhiev was introduced to Czar Nicholas ii. The Czar opened the discussion by suggesting that an official Russian representative be stationed in Lhasa. Dorzhiev was forced to point out that foreigners were still forbidden in Tibet and that for the time being at least an official Russian presence was impossible. Neither the Czar nor Ukhtomsky were pleased by this response. Then Dorzhiev relayed a verbal message from the Dalai Lama asking that Russia provide assistance of an unspecified nature to Tibet to help it ward off British aggression. The Czar, put off because the message had not been put in writing and unsure of Dorzhiev’s official role—he was not an accredited diplomat—reacted coolly to this suggestion and promised nothing. As one historian points out, “neither party derived much satisfaction from the meeting, but it was nevertheless important in opening up communications between Lhasa and St. Petersburg.”

Next, Dorzhiev met with officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry and presented them with a petition from the Dalai Lama requesting that a Buddhist meeting place or temple be established in St. Petersburg. A contingent of Buryat and Kalymk Buddhists lived in the capital, along with Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and other Buddhists attached to diplomatic staffs. Then there was an “elite coterie of European sophisticates and intellectuals, most of them from the upper echelons of society,” who “‘saw in the mystic cults of India and Tibet a kind of universal religion of the future.’” These devotees and enthusiasts had no place to congregate, as there was no Buddhist temple or meeting place in St. Petersburg. Nothing was done about a new temple at the time, but the seed was sown. During later trips to St. Petersburg Dorzhiev would oversee the construction of Datsan Gunzechoinei, as the new temple was called. It was officially consecrated on August 10, 1915. Shut down during the communist era, it is once again active.