Oldal 284 [284]
OCR
MARIA-KATHARINA LANG moved from the Sandui Khuwilgaan Temple (Khal. Sandui Xuwilgani süm), where it was located since 1980, to the Dsaya Gegeen Monastery, which had been used in the meantime amongst others as a food storage of the Transport Office." Here a hybrid space of ethnographic historic collections in a former monastery was created. Until 2013 the embalmed bodies of the First and Fourth Dsaya Gegeen (Jaya gegen) were part of the museum. They were preserved inside wooden stupas, placed in the religious section of the museum and were not registered as artefacts in the museum. In 2011 the museum director noticed their deterioration and initiated their conservation. Lama Pürewbat took over the conservation works in 2013 and one mummy was gilded and the other was painted gold. Funding was provided by the local administration. Then it was decided to move them to Tégs Bayasgalant Buyan Delgeriitilekh Khiid, the present monastery re-opened as a temple in 1990. Located there believers come to the temple to worship and donate offerings. This was not what Tserennadmid, the present museum director, wanted. He thinks they should be exhibited within the museum and still supports this course. According to him the main reason is that conservation standards are better in the museum.! But also the number of visitors seems to play a role. We analyse the Kharkhorum Museum in Kharkhorin sum of Öwörkhangai Aimag (Province) as an example of a newly established museum built after 1990 (with the support of Japan). Ofthe examples mentioned so far this is the only one specifically built as a museum. Naturally it is linked to Erdene Dsuu as it shows the history of Kharkhorum and the Orkhon Valley. Many artefacts were transferred here from the grounds of Erdene Dsuu complex. The museum had to be newly created and filled with museum objects, many object transfers were involved. Here we also find recently excavated archaeological artefacts and cultural artefacts from the surrounding local arca whose place of origin was in the natural landscape and objects from local people or private collections. One example is the so-called “rain stone” (xün Cult ‘stone figure’) an anthropomorphic stone figure venerated by local people. This stone is believed to bring rain by ritually lifting it. After it was erected in the museum compound, amongst other weather disasters as heavy snowfalls occurred. The resistance of local people and authorities at the end led to the re-transfer of the stone to its natural surroundings, the ritual landscape. Here herders continue to venerate it while in the museum a copy of the stone in original size is on display. These were just some examples of sensitive questions and frictions concerning museums, sacred artefacts, Buddhist culture and legacy in Mongolia that we address in our research project. 20 Cf. Lang, Maria-Katharina — Tsetsentsolmon, Baatarnarany: Museum Construction, Transition and Transformation, p. 88. ?! Interview with Cerennadmid, Cecerleg, 22 June 2014. 282
