Collection

The National Museum of Mongolia houses the world’s largest and most important collection of Mongolian historical, ethnographic and cultural objects ranging from Mongolia’s ancient past dating back around 750 000 years ago to the end of the 20th century. The museum storage holds over 50 000 archeological, historical and ethnographically objects.c costumes are highly significant cultural objects, as the traditional costumes are greatrepresentations of the unique Mongolian nomadic lifestyle and traditions.

They are suitable for the harsh Mongolian climate and therefore traditional costumes and ornaments reflect the natural environment, as well as the history and customs, aesthetic idea of the groups, and the age, gender and social relationship of the person wearing them. Among its collection the Museum has a number of culturally significant and irreplacable costumes, including boots with plate protection from the Mongolian Empire period (13th-14th Century) and rare Shaman costumes. The Museum also has the formal dress of a prince and princess from the early 20th century, clothing of the last Mongolian Khan, outfits of government leaders of communist times, and the ceremonial outfit of the first democratically elected president of the 20th century.

We hope to promote the museum as the best place in Mongolia to see these amazing costumes. As tourists walk into our ethnic costume display hall, they almost always look around in amazement and want to know all about the traditional costumes, and the stories associated with them. Visitors are particularly astounded by the elaborate headdresses and hairstyles of the Khalh married women. Our costumes are such a highlight of the collection that most often foreigners called our museum just simply the “museum with the costumes”. To ensure the long-term preservation of the National Museum of Mongolia’s collection and improve the collection through further, crucial acquisitions the Museum organizes archaeological and cultural field expeditions. The photographic archive is a rich collection of photographs from the late 19th century until the present day.

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Traditional Mongolian Clothing and Jewelry

There are over 20 ethnic groups in Mongolia. Each group has it’s own traditional clothing and ornaments, reflecting their culture and traditions. Mongolian clothing and jewelry reflect the natural environment, history, and customs of the groups, as well as the social relationships, age and gender of the person wearing them. The main parts of the traditional dress include the deel, both long and short vests, sashes, jackets, boots and hat. Our traditional clothing are over 400 styles of deel, 100 types of hats, 20 types of boots, and 30 types of saches. To complement the beautiful woven silk of the deel, special designs, contrasting borders, and even semi-precious stones such as: coral and pearl are sewn onto the clothing.

The Mongolian Deel

Traditionally, Mongolians made 'deel' out of the skins and hides of the domestic animal. It is usually sheep, goat and other animals which they hunted. Mongolian herders wear deel made of skin sheepskin during the winter and deel made of silk, cotton during warmer months. Some deel are padded with cotton for extra warmth in spring and autumn. Hunters who live in the Taiga wore deel of antelope and gazelle skins. Traditional Mongolian clothing reflects both the origin of the Mongols and the various influences of outside groups. Most Mongolians wear a deel that buttons on the right, with a high collar, the latter of which is an influence from the Manchu Chinese. The top section of the deel slants across the chest; the lower portion is rather loose. The majority of deel had long sleeves ending in wide cuffs. The gender and age of the wearer exerted stylistic control on the deel.

Ceremonial deel and those of wealthy people were made of fine silk or golden or silver brocade. Their winter deel would be lined with valuable furs of skins. The edges would be of the best brocade and the buttons of silver. Ordinarily Mongolian men wore dark blue, black, brown, and green deel with blue cuffs. There were two kinds of deel for women- one for young girls and one for married women. Traditionally, a married woman wore a red, pink, green, blue, or light blue deel with a long vest over it. Bright colors were preferred for especial occasion. The collar, front flap, and edges of the deel were bordered with trimmings or braids. Married Mongolian woman preferred sheep skin deel in the winter and cotton or silk deel during the rest of the year. The Khalha and Myangad ethnic groups had deel with raised shoulder pads. Married woman in the western Mongolia wore deel similar to these but with bigger sleeves, smaller cuffs, and a white, pleated collar. Married women in eastern Mongolia didn't have the exaggerated shoulder pads of the Khalha and Myangad.

HATS

Like the Mongolian deel, Mongolian hats and headdresses differ in shape and purpose. Hats vary from group to group, with further variations for the young and the old, for man and women, for special occasions and everyday wear, and for the seasons. he cone-shaped of Mongolian hats symbolizes a yearning towards heaven and prosperity and abundance. Every Mongolian hat is symblic of the sun, and the moon, fire, and friendship. According to Mongolian tradition, hats are highly respected objects; therefore, in a ger, Mongolians place their hats facing toward the south on a trunk in the northern section of the ger. There are also certain places where you can not place a hat, you should never point your feet toward a hat, and you never place a hat with it’s opening upwards. Mongolians dodn’t exchange hats with one another, nor do they throw them away.

SASHES
The sash is one of the main parts of the deel, the traditional Mongolian dress. Since ancient times, Mongolians wore sashes made of cotton, silk or leather, and also wore belts made of iron, copper, gold, silver, or other metals. Turkish men commonly wore leather belts. n the late 19th early 20th centuries, Mongolians generally wore blue, yellow, and brown cotton sashes. To Mongolians, the sash symbolizes strength and friendship. Mongolians would exchange their sashes to build bonds of friendship.

BOOTS

Mongolian nomads have been making and wearing different styles of leather, felt, and skin boots for many years. Mongolians prefer boots with turned-up toes, worn with cotton socks in the summer and thick felt socks in the winter. Boots made of buligaar (a type of thick Russian leather) with the characteristic turned-up toe, are very common amongst Mongolians. These boots are most often made of black, brown, yellow, and green leather Mongolian boot consists of felt soles, leather boot toes and vamps, and cuffs. Patterns such as ulzii ( a symbol of longevity) often adorns the boots. The number of patterns on the boots is significant. For example, men would have 8,12,16,or 33 patterns on their boots. Patterns called zuu orooh are found on boots made for kings and queens.

Translated by D. Erdmaa