Mörön, also spelled Murun, is the administrative center of Khövsgöl Aimag in northern Mongolia. Before 1933, Khatgal had been the aimag capital. Although a poorly developed town, Mörön has a hospital, a museum, a theatre, a post office, and several schools and 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 cityUlaanbaatar 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 Delgermörön 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 was erected on the western edge of the town in the 1990s. The town was notably featured in a 2019 episode of The Grand Tour, where Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travel from western Mongolia in a hand-built kit car to reach the city in the span of seven days.
Population
1959 est.
1969 census
1979 census
1989 census
1994 est.
2000 census
2005 est.
2007 est.
2010 census
9,000
11,200
16,500
21,300
27,230
28,147
35,872
36,082
35,789
Most of the inhabitants live in ger districts.
Airport
The Mörön Airport has two runways, one paved and one gravel. It is served by regular flights from and to Ulaanbaatar. Some flights to the western Aimags may stop over.
Climate
Mörön experienced a continental semi-arid climate with a subarctic temperature regime based upon the 1961 to 1990 reference period resulting in long, very dry, frigid winters and short, warm summers. Just a rise of May temperatures would render the climate to have a warm-summercontinental temperature profile, and given the mildness of northern latitudes in recent decades, the regime is likely to be so if newer averages were used.
Notable buildings
There were 60 temples and monasteries in Mörön at the end of the 19th century. Möröngiin Chüree Khiid Monastery in which about 2500 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 built around it as well.
The municipal theatre and the post office are on the southern and southwestern 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.
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 northeast of the Central Square.
Another sightworthy memorial was erected in front of the airport: Khainzangiin Gelenkhüü, 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 half-way between the 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.
