The Power of Culture

The museum's collection includes more than 58,000 archaeological, historical and ethnographic objects. They date from 800,000 BC to the end of the twentieth century, telling the story of the ancient nomad tradition of this immense country. About 15,500 of the objects can be seen in the permanent collection.

More than a million people live in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. The largest part of the country's 2.5 million inhabitants lives in 'gers', or tents. Mongolia lies clamped between Russia and China and gained its independence from the People's Republic in 1945. The museum plays an important part in the conservation and accessibility of the country's cultural heritage.

The captions and information boards in the museum offer only minimal information at this time and have not been translated into English. The Prince Claus Fund has decided to finance the revision of more than 2000 titles and introduction texts. The museum also wants to add clear graphs to the introduction texts.

The project is the first in Mongolia to be supported by the Fund. For the Prince Claus Fund, Mongolia is a Zone of Silence. These are regions in which little is known about cultural activities due to the difficult political and economic conditions or because of their geographic location. The Fund wants to support and initiate more activities in these zones.