There are two monasteries in the aimag capital, Bayankhongor. The entire town surrounds a sacred hill on which it is forbidden to build. Atop the hill sits a giant stupa of some significance, and there is a small monastery with about ten resident monks at the base of the hill. The other, larger, monastery is called Lamyn Gegeenii Gon Gandan Dedlin Khiid, and was built in 1991. The original monastery of this name was located about 30 km outside of the city and was home to over 10,000 monks and lamas making it one of the largest and most prominent monasteries in the county. However, the buildings were demolished and the monks killed or forced to renounce their vows by the Communist government in 1937. The current monastery is home to about 50 monks, and features a giant statue of Sakyamuni Buddha and two Green and White Tara statues modeled after those in the History and Ethnographical Museum of Bayankhongor.
