Ruins of Kherlen Bars in Dornod

Kherlen Bars Ruins is located in Tsagaan-Ovoo soum of Dornod province, 86km to the west of Choibalsan town, on the southeastern banks of Baruun Duruu Lake. This ancient city ruin was examined by a research team in 1953 and the scientists discovered it was built during the Khitan or Liao dynasty era. Officially the Great Liao or Khitan State, the Khitans used to be the dominating powerhouse in the Mongolian steppes back in the 10th century. It is confirmed that Khitans and Mongols are descendants of same ancestors and even had a same language. And they built this ancient city, Kherlen Bars. The western walls of the city were 1900m, the northern and the eastern walls were 1700m and the southern walls of the Kherlen Bars were 1530m long. And the walls were 1.5m – 2m tall and 3.3 – 5m thick. There were stupas inside and outside the walls built in Indian architecture style and a lot of religious items are found in the area. However, scientists believe Kherlen Bars was a military fortress even though the evidences suggest more civil and religious establishment was here. And the reason is several historic sources cite the Khitans put a lot of garrisons in the northwestern part of the empire to demolish revolts started by smaller tribes and Kherlen Bars was likely one of them.