Darkhan feels less like a traditional Mongolian city and more like a fading Soviet echo transplanted onto the open steppe. It is the capital of Darkhan-Uul Province in northern Mongolia and the second-largest city in the country, yet it carries itself with a quiet heaviness shaped by concrete, factories, and the long shadow of socialist industrial ambition. On October 17, 1961, Darkhan was built with extensive economic assistance from the Comecon as a deliberate industrial project for Mongolia’s northern territory. True to its name, which means “blacksmith” or “forged,” the city was conceived as a manufacturing heart for the north.