The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designates World Heritage Sites of outstanding universal value to cultural or natural heritage which have been nominated by countries which are signatories to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972.^[1] Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty, are defined as natural heritage.^[2] Mongolia ratified the convention on 2 February 1990.^[3]

Orkhon Valley

Petroglyphs

Uvs Nuur Basin

Burkhan Khaldun

Mongol Daguur Biosphere Reserve

Deer Stones

Location of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Mongolia. Red dots represent cultural and green dots represent natural sites. Orange dots represent the Deer Stones.

Mongolia has six sites on the list. The first site, the Uvs Nuur Basin, was listed in 2003. The most recent site, the Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Age Sites, was listed in 2023. Two sites are natural and transnational sites shared with Russia. The other four sites are cultural. In addition, Mongolia has 11 sites on the tentative list.^[3]

UNESCO lists sites under ten criteria; each entry must meet at least one of the criteria. Criteria i through vi are cultural, and vii through x are natural.^[4]

More information Site, Image ...

World Heritage Sites

Site	Image	Location (province)	Year listed	UNESCO data	Description
Uvs Nuur Basin*		Uvs, Zavkhan, Khövsgöl	2003	769rev; ix, x (natural)	This transnational site comprises seven properties in Russia and five in Mongolia. The Uvs Nuur Basin is a large endorheic basin that drains into the large, shallow, and very saline Uvs Lake. The basin contains a wide variety of habitats, including wetlands, steppe, different types of forests, fresh and saltwater ecosystems, as well as mountain tundra. The area is home to several bird species, snow leopard, Mongolian gerbil, argali, and Siberian ibex.[5]
Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape		Arkhangai, Övörkhangai	2004	1081rev; ii, iii, iv (cultural)	The cultural landscape along both banks of the Orkhon River covers extensive pastures and several archaeological site. The area was home to several waves of nomadic peoples, with the first signs of settlement over 60,000 years ago. In the last two millennia, the valley was inhabited by nomadic pastoralists, the Huns, Turkic peoples, the Uighurs, the Khitans, and finally the Mongols. In the 13th century, the latter created a vast Mongolian Empire with the capital in Karakorum. Monuments in the valley include the Orkhon monuments created by the Göktürks in the 8th century, the ruins of Ordu-Baliq, the capital of the Uyghur Khaganate in the 8th and 9th centuries, and the Erdene Zuu and Tövkhön Buddhist monasteries from the 16th and 17th centuries.[6]
Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai		Bayan-Ölgii	2011	1382; iii (cultural)	This site comprises three complexes of petroglyphs, Tsagaan Salaa-Baga Oigor, Upper Tsagaan Gol, and Aral Tolgoi, parts of which are located in the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park. The earliest petroglyphs date to about 11,000 BCE, to the Late Pleistocene, and depict the animals such as mammoths, rhinoceros, and ostriches that lived in the area when it was much colder and drier than today. Images from the following millennia depict the change in animal communities and the transition from hunting to a herding-based society and horse-dependent nomads. The most recent remains date to the later Turkic period (7th and 8th centuries CE).[7]
Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding sacred landscape		Khentii	2015	1440; iv, vi (cultural)	The area is believed to be the place where Genghis Khan, who established the Mongol Empire in 1206, was born and is buried. According to The Secret History of the Mongols, he formalized the practice of mountain worship, previously deeply rooted in shamanic traditions of nomadic peoples. The pilgrimage route to the mountain passes three ovoos (shamanic rock cairns). In the late 15th century, Buddhism replaced the mountain worship, but since the 1990s, some of the traditions have been revived and integrated with Buddhist rituals.[8]
Landscapes of Dauria*		Dornod	2017	1448rev; ix, x (natural)	Dauria, or Transbaikal, is a region east of Lake Baikal. The transnational site comprises areas of Daursky Nature Reserve in Russia and three areas in Mongolia, including the Mongol Daguur Biosphere Reserve. The landscape includes different steppe ecosystems, forests, and grasslands, as well as wetlands and lakes. The area is important as a nesting ground or migration route for several bird species, such as the white-naped crane (a specimen pictured), and is also a migration area of the Mongolian gazelle.[9]
Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Age Sites		Khövsgöl, Arkhangai	2023	i, iii (cultural)	This site comprises four clusters with deer stones, megaliths dating to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age that were used for ceremonial and funerary practices. The stones are made of blocks of granite and engraved with depictions of deer, as well as with human faces, symbols, and different animals. About 1200 of these stones have been discovered so far. Monuments called khirgisüürs and slab burials are found at the sites as well.[10]

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In addition to sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, member states can maintain a list of tentative sites that they may consider for nomination. Nominations for the World Heritage List are only accepted if the site was previously listed on the tentative list.^[11] Mongolia has 12 properties on its tentative list.^[3]