Sacred Sites

Burkhan Khaldun

Tengrism

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Burkhan Khaldun." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sacred-sites/burkhan-khaldun.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Burkhan Khaldun. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sacred-sites/burkhan-khaldun

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-burkhan-khaldun,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Burkhan Khaldun},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sacred-sites/burkhan-khaldun},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Burkhan Khaldun, a mountain in the Khentii range of northeastern Mongolia, is Tengrism's best documented sacred site: tradition holds that Genghis Khan prayed to Tengri, the sky god, on its slopes, and the mountain remains one of several peaks (alongside Belukha, Otgontenger, Jengish Chokusu and Khan Tengri) that carry standing significance in Tengrist practice and in the wider Mongolian reverence for high, sky-facing ground.

Facts

Site

Type of Sitethe subject's own account

Sacred mountain, hill or peak 1

Type of Site Detail

The mountain is named twenty seven times in the thirteenth century Secret History of the Mongols, which records Genghis Khan's own vow to honor it with sacrifice and prayer every day and to have his descendants do the same. Mongolian tradition holds Burkhan Khaldun as both his birthplace and, unconfirmed by any located grave, his burial site; UNESCO inscribed the mountain and its surrounding landscape as a World Heritage site in 2015. 2

Status

Status Todaythe subject's own account

Living tradition, practised today 1

Origins

Regionthe subject's own account

Khentii Province, Mongolia 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Tengri

This source names Tengri directly: "range of northeastern Mongolia, is Tengrism's best documented sacred site: tradition holds that Genghis Khan prayed to Tengri, the sky god, on its slopes, and the mountain remains one of several..."

Source Tengrism (Wikipedia)

Tengrism (Wikipedia)

This source names Burkhan Khaldun directly: "and Sakha, sacred mountains including Burkhan Khaldun in Mongolia, the festival names Yilgayakh and Yhyakh without further description, and its status as a beliefless-in-a-founder folk religion with..."

Source Tengrism (Wikipedia)