Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue

By Peter Zachar Shutterstock.com

The New York Times reported on the statue in August 2009:

Jesus Christ looms over Rio de Janeiro, a quartet of American presidents gazes from the face of Mount Rushmore and Lenin keeps watch over St. Petersburg. But if there were a global contest to honor larger-than-life men on a colossal scale, Mongolia might just vanquish them all — again.

A monument in Tsonjin Boldog is the latest effort to show off an old khan.
Genghis Khan, the legendary horseman who conquered half the known world in the 13th century, has returned to the steppes of Mongolia, and this time he charges admission.

About an hour’s drive from Ulan Bator, Mongolia’s drab capital, the khan first appears on the horizon as a twinkling speck, rising on the plains like a shimmering mirage.

As one approaches, he takes the breath away: a 131-foot-tall giant on horseback, wrapped in 250 tons of gleaming stainless steel. Visitors can even take an elevator and emerge from between his legs to gaze at the lush Mongolian steppe from a deck atop his steed’s head.