Kharkhorin

Kharkhorin is a town and sum center in Övörkhangai Province in Mongolia, well known as the site of the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. The town had 14,765 inhabitants in 2017 and covers 20.5 square kilometres. It lies at the lower end of the upper valley of the Orkhon River, which is part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site, where the easternmost foothills of the Khangai Mountains meet the steppe of central Mongolia. Nearby are the ruins of Karakorum, which served briefly as the Mongol capital under Ogedei Khan, and the Erdene Zuu Monastery. Its main sources of income are tourism and agriculture, with Orkhon River water irrigating crops on the plain to the east. Kharkhorin Airport has regular flights to Ulaanbaatar, and five private coal-fired boiler houses heat the district center. The town has a dry-winter semi-arid climate.