Mongolia

Baibalik ruins are located 14 km (8,70 miles) from the centre of Khutagöndör. The site is protected by the State as a historical site since 1998.

As many vestiges in Mongolia, Baibalik ruins are at the same time the ruins of a Xiongnu fortress and the ones of an important Uyghur city. In effect, Mongolians were in the habit of reusing some old fortresses, that is the reason why it's difficult to bring to light vestiges that are only Xiongnu. In the sum of Saikhan, province of Bulgan, we can find engraved on a stele an inscription about the foundation of Baibalik, attributed to Uyghur king Myunchur. In effects, at the line 44, is written:

I ordered to make establish Baibalik city on the banks of the Selenge River.

So the historians think that King Myunchur built the city. Many Tadzhiki and Chinese merchants and Manichaean preachers passed in this flourishing city that was regarded as a cultural centre in Central Asia.

The city was composed of two clay fortresses. The biggest part fell down, but we still can see the eastern and the northern sections of the northern fortress. The remaining part is four metres high and two metres thick. Small holes are spread on the fortress and may have been used for observing the outside from the inside. On the northern fortress, there was a big temple surrounded with lions.

The Kyrgyzes destroyed the city in 840. All the sutras books were burnt.