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old_mongolian_traditional_script Mongolia has always had a very defined artistic past with influences from all over the world this was evident at the time of the great Mongol Empire of Genggis Khan and Khublai Khan to the later days of Chinese occupation and Russian domination. Never the less the Mongol arts have always remained pure only taking in slight alterations but rarely loosing its unique identity. It is the russians (or soviets at the time) which dealt the Mongolian arts its most serious blow, the traditional mongolian script was changed to cyrilic, religions in all its forms was banned, traditional folk displays were ethnically cleanesed to present a more "civilized" outlook while all and any mention of the great Mongol past, of its empire, of its customs was outlowed. Since Mongolia has escaped Soviet domination in the early 1990's there has been a strong resurgance and revival of all mongolian art forms, this is clearly visible if you spend some time in Mongolia at the present time. Art is once again being used to form and foster a national identity.

This section contains detailed exposes and examples of current Mongolian Art forms, its roots, origins and subsequent evolution into what it is today. Singing, dancing, writing, fine arts and even foods will be analysed in great depth.

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Traditional Mongolian Music

mongolian_dancers_in_traditional_costumes Music is and has always been an integral part of the Mongolian culture even if some traditional styles of music were modernized and standardized over time, primarily during the Chinese occupation and the Soviet repretion but now it sometimes takes the form of adding European elements to a Mongolian song which makes for interesting results. Traditional long-songs are one of the greatest and best known features of Mongolian music, it is also a type of singing which is entirely unique to the world.

Traditional Mongolian Music Instruments

morin_huur_traditional_mongolian_music_instrument The traditional Mongolian Folk music is influenced by the large variety of tribes, having been united for the first time in the 13th century under the rule of Genghis Khan with Turkish tribes in order to establish the Mongolian people. The nomad shepherds in Mongolia, like other nomads in Central Asia, use to play string and wind instruments.

Percussion instruments, though, were only played in connection with Shamanism and Buddhism, the origins of which can be found in Tibetan Lamaism, as well as with the "Tsam dance", which was performed in Mongolia for the first time in the 8th century.

Nowdays the Mongolians use a wide variety of instruments to perform and accompany their songs and dances, click on "read more" to view some of the very typical instruments.

Mongolian Classical Music

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Beginning in the 1920s, the European styles, techniques, and instruments introduced by the USSR radically changed the understanding and views of Mongolians. Musicians, singers, and dancers studied in the USSR, and there were a number of state supported theatres, opera, and ballet troupes. The Opera is still playing every summer the traditional classics such as Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Tosca and la Boheme.

The ballet is loosing in popularity against the Opera, this is due in great part to a new string of home made mongolian operas in a pop setting usually depicting the life of the great Chinggis Khan or Khublai Khan.

Mongolian Fine Art

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The art of the ancient Mongol is rooted in, and an inseparable component of, nomadic culture and folk art.

Art in Mongolia began with the impressions and expressions of feelings on rock. Ancient petroglyphs created before recorded history, and later, various Shaman symbols and sacred place identifications, bring us the voices and visions of the ancestors. These works usually depict hunting trophies and domesticated livestock, and more rarely, people and even carts with wheels.

The oldest examples of rock painting in Mongolia are located at Khoit-Tsenkher Cave in Hovd Aimag. Painted in ochre on cave walls, these Stone Age paintings depict mammoths, sheep and ostriches. Later, cave paintings from the Bronze Age show animals, hunting scenes, carriages and various symbols.

Mongolian Painting

Thousands of years of nomadic life and the destruction of Mongolia's Buddhist monasteries in the 1930s have greatly limited the survival of pre-twentieth century Mongolian visual art. Still, the earliest examples of Mongolian painting, petroglyphs, date to more than two thousand years ago. Significant paintings also remain from the Uighur people, who lived in the 8th century.

Mongolian art experienced a sort of renaissance beginning with the flowering of Buddhism in Mongolia during Zanabazar's time, 1635 - 1723. From this time until the shift to socialism in the early 1920s, much of the subject matter in Mongolian art was Buddhist. The work of artists, who were generally also monks, was used as objects of worship. The most common media in religious two-dimensional art were mineral pigments on cloth (photo 1) and appliquй (pieces of cloth stitched together and embroidered to form an image.) Applique (photo 2) was especially suited to Mongolian life, as it was easy to transport and held up well in the dry climate, as opposed to paintings, which might be damaged by the climate and the wear and tear of frequent rolling and unrolling. In addition, many monasteries were engaged in printing sutras and religious texts by woodblock.

Mongolian Sculptural Art

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Deer carvings on stone slabs are the earliest examples we have of Mongolian sculpture, dating to around the Bronze age. Thousands of these stones, most of which are scattered across the Mongolian countryside, are evidence of the skill and value of sculpture in ancient Mongolia.

One of Mongolia's most famous sculptors, Undur Gegeen Zanabazar,(1635 - 1723) was also a painter, architect, monk, high religious leader, diplomat, and politician. He created sculptures in gilt bronze of Buddhist deities. There is not much known about the artistic training of Zanabazar, although he was ordained in Lhasa, Tibet at the age of fourteen when the Potala Palace was being built, and no doubt came into contact with many artisans at that time, and when he returned to Mongolia, he was accompanied by many lamas and craftsmen. His work also has many characteristics in common with the sculpture of Nepal. Yet he developed a unique style, and all sculptures by him and from the Zanabazar School are finely resolved, possess elegant detail, mastery of the human form, and exude life. Zanabazar laid the foundation for the depiction and praise of the human form in Mongolian sculpture.

Mongolian Craft, Designs and Costumes

Mongolian nomads' homes, clothes, weapons , and way of life are impossible to imagine without Mongolia's unique crafts, patterns, and embroidery. A special aesthetic has developed from the common things used in the everyday life of nomads over thousands of years.

The beginning of the decorative arts in Mongolia dates back to pre-Bronze Age, with cave paintings. These can be found throughout Mongolia, but the highest concentration of cave paintings are in the mountains of western Mongolia, in the provinces of Hovd and Bayan Olgii.

The Bronze Age saw the development of molten metal and zooform art. An example are the "deer stones" one can find dotting the Mongolian countryside: stone slabs with simplified, stylized deer carved in relief. Fortunetelling conglomerations of animal figures and animal body parts characterized the art of the Hunnu and Bronze Age people who lived in Mongolian territory.

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Throughout Mongolian theater history, fairy tales, legends, romantic stories, and religious events have been expressed through music, songs, dances, and drama. This genre is rooted in the ancient Mongolian tradition of arranging noisy, crowded festivities where singing, dancing, and worshipping of Gods were central. There was royal entertainment, called Palace theater, as well as folk theater and ritual shows for the common people.

Under the domination of the Manchurian Empire, theatrical entertainment was strongly influenced by Chinese culture. There were numerous Chinese theatrical spots spread across Mongolia in those times.

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