The Ivolginsky Datsan near Verkhnyaya Ivolga in Buryatia opened in 1945 as the only Buddhist centre permitted in the Soviet Union, and it remains the seat of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia. It follows the Gelug tradition, trains monks at its own institute, and holds the body of the lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov, exhumed in 2002 and kept at the monastery.