Buryatia.

History

In ancient times these lands were ruled by the Xiongnu, followed by a long line of khanates and dynasties. Cossacks and tsarist officials reached the western Buryat lands in 1625, and in 1666 the small Udinskoye fort was built, later Verkhneudinsk and now Ulan-Ude. From 1727 Kyakhta became the main crossing for trade between Russia and China. Under Catherine the Great, Old Believers were resettled here and became known as the Semeiskie. The Buryat-Mongol ASSR was created in 1923, and in 1958 the word 'Mongol' was dropped from its name.

Culture & traditions

Tibetan Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity are the republic's most widespread faiths; the Buryats adopted Buddhism in the early 18th century, and shamanism is reviving in rural areas. Ivolginsky Datsan, 23 kilometres from Ulan-Ude, opened in 1945 as the only Buddhist spiritual centre in the USSR; it keeps the body of Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, found well preserved when exhumed in 2002. UNESCO lists the Buryat language as severely endangered. The cultural space and oral culture of the Semeiskie, with their polyphonic singing, were inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2001.

Nature

The republic's highest point is Munku-Sardyk, 3,491 metres. On Baikal's north-eastern shore lies the Barguzin Nature Reserve, founded in 1916 to save the Barguzin sable and the oldest zapovednik in Russia. Its bogs and conifer taiga give way to subalpine meadows and mountain tundra, home to moose, brown bears, lynx and musk deer, while its waters hold omul, sturgeon, grayling and taimen. Since 1986 it has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Sport

Ulan-Ude is known to adventurers as the finishing point of the international Mongol Rally. The mountains that cover most of the republic and the shores of Baikal draw lovers of the outdoors.

Food & drink

Buryat cooking is close to Mongolian: its signature dishes are buuz dumplings and khuushuur, hearty and meat-based. Dairy is central, and omul from Baikal is common too.

Practical information

Ulan-Ude has air connections, and the Trans-Siberian Railway runs through the city, where the Trans-Mongolian line branches off through Mongolia to Beijing. Local time is five hours ahead of Moscow (UTC+8). Winters are long, dry and very cold, summers warm; Ulan-Ude has recorded both −54 °C and +40 °C. Summer is the best time for a trip to Baikal.

What to see

• Ivolginsky Datsan — seat of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia near Ulan-Ude
• Lenin's Head in Ulan-Ude — the world's largest Lenin head, 7.7 metres tall
• Ethnographic Museum of the Peoples of Transbaikalia — local history and old wooden architecture
• Barguzin Nature Reserve — Russia's oldest nature reserve, on the Baikal shore
• Kyakhta — once the main crossing for Russia's trade with China

Cities on the map

• Ulan-Ude 435,067