Mörön, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia

🇲🇳 Mörön (Мөрөн; ᠮᠥᠷᠡᠨ; 'River') is the administrative centre of Khövsgöl, Mongolia. Before 1933, Khatgal had been the aimag capital. It is considered a major city such as Ulaanbaatar, Darhan, Erdenet and Choibalsan. In terms of administrative units, it is divided into 14 khoroo and covers approximately 102.9 km². Demographics are split as 51.58% females to 48.42% males. 41.25% of the population is aged between 15 and 39. Although a poorly developed town, Mörön has a hospital, a museum, a theatre, a post office, nine schools and fifteen kindergartens. It was connected to the Mongolian central power grid in 2004. The town has had a paved road connecting it to Mongolia's capital city Ulaanbaatar since December 2014, as a part of a government effort to extend paved roads from Ulaanbaatar to all Aimag capitals.

History The settlement stems from the Möröngiin Khuree monastery, which had been founded in 1809/11 on the banks of the Delger mörön river. By the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery had grown to a population of about 1300 lamas but was destroyed in 1937. A small new monastery (Danzadarjaa Khiid) was erected on the western edge of the town in the 1990s.

Education Mörön has 27 organizations that are working as educational institutions. There are eight national, one private high schools, thirteen national, four private kindergartens, one vocational training centre, and the university. As of 2020, there were a total of 14,865 students in the city. The first school of the local was established in 1923 under the name "Suhiin tenhim". In 2000 it was renamed "Delgermurun" and remains in use until now. The two main institutions are the "Delgermurun" and "Erdmiin Dalai". "Erdmiin Dalai" that is one of the top 10 national school in Mongolia was founded in 1962 with the name "Erdem".

Transport: Air Since 1957, the Mörön Airport (ICAO: ZMMN, IATA: MXV) has two runways, one paved 2,400m long by 42m wide, and one gravel 2,000m long. It is served by regular flights from and to Ulaanbaatar. Some flights to the western Aimags may stop over. It is a first class capacity of 150 passengers per hour.

Notable buildings • There were 60 temples and monasteries in Mörön at the end of the 19th century. Möröngiin Chüree Khiid Monastery in which about 2,500 monks were living was the most important one. It was famous for its Tsam dances. In 1937, however, the monasteries and temples of Mörön were all destroyed by order of the then president Khorloogiin Choibalsan, like everywhere in Mongolia. Danzadardscha Khiid, a small new monastery, was built in a traditional style in the western part of Mörön in June 1990, and 40 monks are living there. Several stupas and a tall Buddha statue were also built around it. • The municipal theatre and the post office are on the southern and south-western edges of the large Central Square. Opposite, the Town Hall which was built in a typical socialist style, is worth a look as well. In the middle of the square, an equestrian statue was erected as a monument for Chingunjav, the leader of a local rebellion against the Qing dynasty, in 2010. This statue replaced an older monument for Davaadorj (see below). • The monument for Davaadorj, a Mongolian border guard from Khövsgöl who was killed in a skirmish on the Khovd/Xinjiang border in 1948, has been moved to the compound of the border troops, around 300 m north-east of the Central Square. • Another sightworthy memorial was erected in front of the airport: Khainzangiin Gelenkhüü (Хайнзангийн Гэлэнхүү; 1870–1938), a Buddhist monk who tried to fly with wings made of sheep leather near the town of Jargalant in the 1930s. • The Aimag Museum, founded in 1949, is halfway between Central Square and the Wrestlers' Stadium. It shows about 4000 objects, e.g., are traditional clothes and other items of minorities living in Khövsgöl Aimag. • The Wrestlers' Stadium is an interesting modern building in the eastern part of the town. In front of it, a memorial was erected to honour three famous wrestlers stemming from Mörön. A special park for children was laid out opposite the stadium.

Economy In 2018, the province contributed to 1.84% of the total national GDP of Mongolia.

In 2007, the aimag was home to about 3.43 million heads of livestock, among them about 1,510,000 goats, 1,442,000 sheep, 322,000 cattle and yaks, 150,000 horses, 2,350 camels, and 652 reindeer.