Ethnocultural historical center "Ustuu-Khuree" in Tuva

Ethnocultural center "Ustuu-Khuree", which will be located on the territory of Dzun-Khemchik district of the republic, will become one of the trademarks of the republic. This was announced today at a government conference, during which the project plans were evaluated. It is anticipated that the Center will include the territory of the Ustuu-Khuree temple, destroyed in 1937, in the vicinity of Chadan.

Currently, the ruins of earth walls of the old temple, which are sacred to many people of the republic, attract multitudes of pilgrims and tourists. Next to the ruins is the new Buddhist temple, opened on 23 July of this year, which is a contemporary replica of the old temple. Services are carried out there, and lamas are working. But at the same time it is not only a place of religion.

It has a tremendous historical significance. In the first half of the 20^th century, Ustuu-Khuree was considered to be the center of Tuvan statehood, and a spiritual and economic center. The foundation of Tuvan alphabet was established on the territory of the temple, the first coin of Tuvan Peoples Republic was minted here. The fate of the founder of the first Tuvan State, Buyan-Badyrgy Mongush, is associated with the temple. For that reason it is very important to make certain that the temple is involved in the spiritual and cultural life of contemporary Tuva.

The possibility of establishment of a special organization for dealing with matters of the documentation of the real estate and construction contracts was reviewed at the conference.

Note

Temple Ustuu-Khuree was one of the largest Buddhist temples of Tuva, located 7 km north of Chadan, center of Dzun-Khemchik district of the republic. It was founded in 1905-1907. The construction was realized under the leadership and project of a specially invited Tibetan lama Kuntan Rinpoche. The local population was directly involved in the construction. In 1930 the temple was closed, and in 1937 the decision was made to destroy the temple, but it was not possible to destroy the complex totally; high earthwork walls remained. The lamas working at the temple were executed.

In 1999, the first International festival of music and faith "Ustuu-Khuree" took place in Chadan; its chief goal, as the initiators of the festival, Tuvan musicians, declared, was a movement to re-establish the temple Ustuu-Khuree. The festival takes place every year. The reconstruction of the temple began in 2008 with the support of the then-chief of MChS, a native of Tuva Sergei Shoigu and the Government of Tuva, personally by the Head of the republic Sholban Kara-ool. Originally the idea was to build the new temple on the walls of the old one, but then it was decided to leave the ruins as they are and to build the new temple next to the destroyed one. The work was performed using the project plans by Moscow architect Vila Khaslavskaya. The reconstruction was finished in 2012, on 23 July 2012 a ceremony of opening Ustuu-Khuree took place. More than 10,000 people have visited the temple on that day, including about 2,000 participants of the 14^th festival "Ustuu-Khuree".