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.

Rising from the vast white plain of Tsonjin Boldog, the monument appeared, shimmering, immense, and undeniably powerful. The 40-meter stainless steel statue of Genghis Khan on horseback, considered the world’s tallest equestrian statue, dominates everything around it. Its polished surface reflected the pale winter sun, giving the impression of a giant cast from ice and steel. The statue stands near the Tuul River, where legend says Genghis Khan discovered a golden whip. Fittingly, it points eastward toward his birthplace, as if eternally returning to the origins of the Mongol story.

Zaisan Memorial is located on Zaisan Hill in Khan-Uul District, on the southern side of Ulaanbaatar. It is a memorial dedicated to Mongolian and Soviet soldiers who died during World War II and earlier conflicts connected to Mongolia’s modern history. Construction began in 1969 under chief architect A. Khisegt, and the memorial was officially unveiled in 1971 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the People’s Revolution of 1921.