Mongolian Handcrafts and Fine Arts

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Mongolian Handcrafts and Fine Arts

Handmade Crafts & Fine Arts of Mongolia

Mongolia’s artistic heritage is deeply rooted in its nomadic lifestyle. For thousands of years, nomads crafted everything they needed for daily life—homes, tools, clothes, saddles, jewelry—by hand. From these necessities grew a rich and sophisticated artistic tradition.

Today, Mongolian crafts and fine arts remain a powerful expression of the nation’s history, creativity, and cultural identity.


  Handmade Crafts of the Nomads

Mongolian nomads have long been skilled in embroidery, felt-making, leatherwork, metalwork, bone carving, and jewelry design. These crafts developed from practical needs but evolved into refined artistic forms.

Ancient Origins

  • Decorative arts began with cave paintings, followed by animal-shaped ritual objects from the Hun and Bronze Age.
  • Early craftsmen mastered embroidery, applique, stitched felt art, pottery, and goldsmithing.
  • During the era of Chinggis Khan, foreign influences enriched local styles.

Craft Revival in the 19th–20th Centuries

After Mongolia gained independence in 1911, monasteries, temples, and cultural centers were rebuilt.
This era saw flourishing:

  • Painting & sculpture
  • Felt and textile art
  • Woodcarving
  • Book printing and religious icon making
  • Bone, amber, and wood craftwork

Over time, craftwork became an independent branch of Mongolian art.


  Patterns & Symbolism

Mongolia has over 7,000 traditional patterns, each with symbolic meaning.
Among the most ancient:

  • Sulden khee — symbol of strength and spirit
  • Galan khee — the fire pattern, honored by all Mongolians

Traditional motifs reflect the Mongolian worldview, wishes, and values.


  Master Craftsmen & Materials

Mongolian artisans work with more than 200 materials, including:

  • Metals & precious stones
  • Wood & leather
  • Silk & wool
  • Pearls & coral

Renowned Craft Regions

Dariganga craftsmen are famous for:

  • Silver jewelry
  • Complex women’s headpieces
  • Knife-making
  • Artistic saddle design

Saddles & Jewelry

Mongolian saddles are masterpieces combining:

  • Metal casting
  • Leather carving
  • Embroidery
    Women’s jewelry varies by tribe—turquoise, coral, and silver are common, often forming elaborate headdresses.

Ger Furniture

Wooden craft traditions include:

  • Painted chests
  • Carved furniture
  • Decorative ger elements
    The popular “Uyanga” style reflects elegance and bright colors typical of nomadic life.

๐Ÿ–ผ๏ธ Mongolian Fine Arts

Mongolia’s fine arts reflect thousands of years of cultural layering—from shamanistic symbols to Buddhist iconography, to modern creative expression.

Bronze Age to Early Empires

  • The CARA-SUKSKY bronze style (late Bronze Age) featured dramatic animal motifs—long ears, large eyes, and curved horns.
  • Shamanistic tribes carved wood and bone figures representing spirits, animals, and sacred totems.

Buddhist Influence

With the arrival of Buddhism:

  • Sculpture, painting, and craftwork incorporated Indian, Tibetan, and Nepalese artistic styles.
  • Temples displayed bronze deities, thangkas, murals, and ritual instruments.
  • Craftsmen refined techniques in metal casting, iconography, and ornamental design

The Ger as an Art Gallery

Everyday objects—saddles, chests, tables, rugs—became canvases for artistic expression, decorated with patterns, color symbolism, and spiritual motifs.


  Thangka Art & Religious Aesthetics

Before the 20th century, most Mongolian fine art was religious.

Thangkas (Tanka)

Painted or appliqued thangka scrolls depict Buddhist deities and follow strict rules of:

  • Proportions
  • Geometry
  • Color symbolism

Three main styles exist:

  • Gartan — white background
  • Martan — red background
  • Nagtan — black background

Artists used cotton, linen, and silk, creating works found in nearly every yurt and monastery.


   Zanabazar — Master of Mongolian Renaissance Art

G. Zanabazar (1635–1723) was a sculptor, spiritual leader, and Mongolian Renaissance figure. His works are celebrated for their:

  • Perfect proportions
  • Spiritual depth
  • Elegant lines
  • Emotional expression

Famous Works

  • 21 Tara statues (White Tara & Green Tara are especially admired)
  • Varjradara (Holder of Lightning) — housed at Gandantegchinlin Monastery
    Zanabazar’s sculptures are considered equal in mastery to European Renaissance art.

   Modern & Contemporary Art

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mongolian artists shifted toward realism and secular themes.

Key Developments

  • “Marzan” Sharav introduced humorous and realistic painting (e.g., One Day in Mongolia).
  • During the socialist era, socialist realism dominated, but Mongol zurag (traditional-style painting) grew popular.
  • From the 1960s onward, modernism emerged with works like Mother’s Love by Tsevegjav.
  • After Perestroika, all art forms flourished, blending tradition with contemporary ideas.


   Mongolian Aesthetic Philosophy

Mongolian beauty ideals emphasize:

  • Natural harmony
  • Moral virtues
  • Balance of forms and colors
  • Connection between body, spirit, and environment

In art, foreground and background are equally important, reflecting Mongolian philosophy where everything in the universe is interconnected.


  Handicrafts Today

The Mongolian government supports artisans by purchasing significant artworks for museums such as the National Modern Art Gallery. Today, traditional crafts continue to thrive—both as cultural heritage and as modern creative expression.

Visitors can explore handmade crafts at:

  • Local markets
  • Artisan workshops
  • Museums
  • Monasteries
  • Cultural performances

 

Testimonial

What Client Say About us

Maria Doe

Traveller

Exceptional Northern Mongolia Experience with Lunas Tours Our journey through Northern Mongolia was truly unforgettable thanks to 'Lunas Tours'. Traveling through the Khuvsgul region, Darkhad Valley, and remote northern landscapes, we experienced pristine nature, rich nomadic culture, and deep local traditions that few tours can offer. The tour was extremely well-organized, with careful planning for long distances, changing weather, and remote conditions. We especially appreciated the authentic experiencesโ€”staying with local families, learning about reindeer herdersโ€™ lifestyles, and enjoying the peaceful beauty of Mongoliaโ€™s northern taiga. The teamโ€™s strong local knowledge, cultural sensitivity, and respect for nature made the journey both safe and meaningful. This was not just sightseeing, but a true cultural and natural immersion. We highly recommend 'Lunas Tours' to travelers who want to explore Northern Mongolia in a responsible, authentic, and well-guided way.

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Micheal and Debby from Nederland

Traveller

Outstanding service by Guide Luna & Driver Eba โ€“ Lunas Tours Our trip in Mongolia was exceptional thanks to our guide Luna and driver Eba. Luna was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, and caring. She explained Mongoliaโ€™s history, culture, and traditions with passion and clarity, and always made sure everyone felt comfortable and well-informed throughout the journey. Driver Eba was equally impressive. His driving was safe, smooth, and reliable even on challenging roads and long distances. He handled every situation calmly and professionally, making us feel secure at all times. Together, Luna and Eba worked as a perfect team. Their coordination, friendliness, and attention to detail turned our trip into a truly memorable experience. We highly recommend them to anyone traveling in Mongolia with Lunas Tours.

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Sarah

Australian traveler

Amazing experience with Lunas Tours โ€“ Mongolia Our journey with Lunas Tours was truly unforgettable. From the very beginning, everything was well-organized, flexible, and thoughtfully planned. The team showed deep knowledge of Mongoliaโ€™s culture, history, and nature, and they always made sure we felt safe and comfortable. What we appreciated most was Lunas Toursโ€™ personalized approach and support for local communities. Staying with local families, experiencing authentic food, and exploring Mongoliaโ€™s breathtaking landscapes made this trip very special. We highly recommend Lunas Tours to anyone who wants a genuine, meaningful, and well-guided travel experience in Mongolia. ๐ŸŽ

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John

American traveller

โญโญโญโญโญ Lunas Tours gave us an authentic and unforgettable Mongolian experience! Professional guides, great organization, and strong support for local communities. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Mongolia.

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Vaiopoulos Nikos

Greece Traveller

Luna Khaliunaa Mongolian Guide provide for me and my company one of the best travel experience we ever had. Mongolia was awesome thanks to her! Ever consider visit Mongolia Lunas' Tours should be your only choice.

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Garry's family

Canadian family

Perfect family tour with Guide Luna & Driver Eba Our family had a wonderful experience traveling in Mongolia with Lunas Tours in winter - 2025, especially thanks to our guide Luna and driver Eba. Luna was incredibly kind, patient, and attentive to our children. She explained Mongolian culture and history in a way that was easy and interesting for both adults and kids, making the journey educational and fun. Driver Eba made us feel completely safe throughout the trip. His careful driving, calm attitude, and readiness to help at any moment gave us great peace of mind, especially while traveling with children and luggage. Thanks to Luna and Eba, our family felt comfortable, well-cared-for, and truly welcomed. This was not just a tour, but a meaningful family memory. We highly recommend Lunas Tours for families visiting Mongolia.

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Minje & Dunhe

Korean family

ํ•จ๊ป˜ํ•œ ์™„๋ฒฝํ•œ ๊ฐ€์กฑ ์—ฌํ–‰ ์ €ํฌ ๊ฐ€์กฑ์€ ๋ฃจ๋‚˜์Šค ํˆฌ์–ด(Lunas Tours)์™€ ํ•จ๊ป˜ํ•œ ๋ชฝ๊ณจ ์—ฌํ–‰์—์„œ ์ •๋ง ์žŠ์ง€ ๋ชปํ•  ์‹œ๊ฐ„์„ ๋ณด๋ƒˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ํŠนํžˆ ๊ฐ€์ด๋“œ ๋ฃจ๋‚˜ ์™€ ๋“œ๋ผ์ด๋ฒ„ ์—๋ฐ” ๋•๋ถ„์— ์•„์ด๋“ค๊ณผ ํ•จ๊ป˜ํ•˜๋Š” ์—ฌํ–‰์ด ๋”์šฑ ํŽธ์•ˆํ•˜๊ณ  ์•ˆ์ „ํ–ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๊ฐ€์ด๋“œ ๋ฃจ๋‚˜๋Š” ์•„์ด๋“ค์—๊ฒŒ๋„ ์ดํ•ดํ•˜๊ธฐ ์‰ฌ์šด ๋ฐฉ์‹์œผ๋กœ ๋ชฝ๊ณจ์˜ ์—ญ์‚ฌ์™€ ๋ฌธํ™”๋ฅผ ์„ค๋ช…ํ•ด ์ฃผ์—ˆ๊ณ , ํ•ญ์ƒ ์นœ์ ˆํ•˜๊ณ  ์„ธ์‹ฌํ•˜๊ฒŒ ๊ฐ€์กฑ์„ ๋ฐฐ๋ คํ•ด ์ฃผ์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ์—ฌํ–‰ ๋‚ด๋‚ด ์•„์ด๋“ค์˜ ์ƒํƒœ๋ฅผ ์‚ดํŽด์ฃผ๋ฉฐ ๋ถ€๋ชจ ์ž…์žฅ์—์„œ ํฐ ์•ˆ์‹ฌ์ด ๋˜์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๋“œ๋ผ์ด๋ฒ„ ์—๋ฐ”๋Š” ์žฅ๊ฑฐ๋ฆฌ ์ด๋™๊ณผ ํ—˜ํ•œ ๋„๋กœ์—์„œ๋„ ํ•ญ์ƒ ์•ˆ์ „ํ•˜๊ณ  ์ฐจ๋ถ„ํ•˜๊ฒŒ ์šด์ „ํ•ด ์ฃผ์—ˆ์œผ๋ฉฐ, ๊ฐ€์กฑ ์—ฌํ–‰๊ฐ์—๊ฒŒ ๊ผญ ํ•„์š”ํ•œ ์•ˆ์ •๊ฐ์„ ์ฃผ์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๋ฃจ๋‚˜์™€ ์—๋ฐ”์˜ ์™„๋ฒฝํ•œ ํŒ€์›Œํฌ ๋•๋ถ„์— ์ด๋ฒˆ ์—ฌํ–‰์€ ๋‹จ์ˆœํ•œ ๊ด€๊ด‘์ด ์•„๋‹ˆ๋ผ ๊ฐ€์กฑ ๋ชจ๋‘์—๊ฒŒ ์†Œ์ค‘ํ•œ ์ถ”์–ต์ด ๋˜์—ˆ์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค. ๋ชฝ๊ณจ๋กœ ๊ฐ€์กฑ ์—ฌํ–‰์„ ๊ณ„ํšํ•˜์‹ ๋‹ค๋ฉด ๋ฃจ๋‚˜์Šค ํˆฌ์–ด๋ฅผ ์ง„์‹ฌ์œผ๋กœ ์ถ”์ฒœํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค.

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Adrian Lee

Singaporeans

Our trip to Mongolia with Lunas Tours was an absolutely unforgettable experience. Traveling through the heart of Central Mongolia โ€” from the breathtaking Orkhon Valley to the remote beauty of the Eight Lakes (Naiman Nuur) โ€” gave us a true glimpse into the soul of this vast and peaceful land. Special thanks to our amazing guide Luna, whose deep knowledge, kindness, and professionalism made the journey smooth and meaningful, and to our skilled driver Eba, who safely navigated the mountain passes and rugged trails with calm confidence. The Orkhon Valley, with its wide open grasslands, wild horses, and traditional herder families, was a highlight โ€” we felt connected to Mongolian history and nomadic culture. The horseback trip to the Eight Lakes was truly magical, surrounded by pine forests, sparkling lakes, and the peaceful sound of nature. Visiting Erdene Zuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, was another memorable experience. The blend of ancient architecture and the serene spiritual atmosphere made it a powerful reminder of Mongoliaโ€™s rich history and culture. Finally, the hike up to Tuvkhun Monastery, perched high in the Khangai mountains, was both peaceful and inspiring. The view from the top was breathtaking, and it gave us a sense of tranquility that words cannot describe. We are deeply grateful to Luna and Eba for taking such good care of us throughout the journey โ€” from comfortable accommodations to delicious meals and flexible travel arrangements. Their warm hospitality made us feel like family. Thank you, Lunas Tours, for organizing such a perfect balance of adventure, culture, and nature. We will definitely recommend your company to friends and family in Singapore who are seeking an authentic Mongolian experience. โ€“ On behalf of travelers from Singapore

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