Mörön (Mongolian: Мөрөн;ᠮᠥᠷᠡᠨ, lit. 'river'), also spelled Murun, is the administrative center of Khövsgöl Aimag (province) in northern Mongolia. Before 1933, Khatgal had been the aimag capital.
It has 12,286 families and a population of 46,918, and is considered a major city such as Ulaanbaatar, Darhan, Erdenet and Choibalsan. In terms of administrative units, it is divided into 14 khoroo and covers approximately 102.9 km2. Demographics are split as 51.58% females to 48.42% males. 41.25% of the population is aged between 15 and 39.
Although a poorly developed town, Mörön has a hospital, a museum, a theatre, a post office, nine schools and fifteen kindergartens. It was connected to the Mongolian central power grid in 2004. The town has had a paved road connecting it to Mongolia's capital city Ulaanbaatar since December 2014, as a part of a government effort to extend paved roads from Ulaanbaatar to all Aimag capitals.[1]
The settlement stems from the Möröngiin Khuree monastery, which had been founded in 1809/11 on the banks of the Delgermörön river. By the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery had grown to a population of about 1300 lamas but was destroyed in 1937. A small new monastery (Danzadarjaa Khiid) was erected on the western edge of the town in the 1990s.
Most of the inhabitants live in ger districts.
Mörön has 27 organizations that are working as educational institutions. There are eight national, one private high schools, thirteen national, four private kindergartens, one vocational training center, and the university. As of 2020, there were a total of 14,865 students in the city. The first school of the local was established in 1923 under the name "Suhiin tenhim". In 2000 it was renamed "Delgermurun" and remains in use until now. The two main institutions are the "Delgermurun" and "Erdmiin Dalai". "Erdmiin Dalai" that is one of the top 10 national school in Mongolia was founded in 1962 with the name "Erdem".
Since 1957, the Mörön Airport (ICAO: ZMMN, IATA: MXV) has two runways, one paved 2,400m long by 42m wide, and one gravel 2,000m long. It is served by regular flights from and to Ulaanbaatar. Some flights to the western Aimags may stop over. It is a first class capacity of 150 passengers per hour.
Mörön experienced a continental semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with a subarctic temperature regime (Dwc) based upon the 1961 to 1990 reference period resulting in long, very dry, frigid winters and short, warm summers. Just a 0.3 °C (0.5 °F) rise of May temperatures would render the climate to have a warm-summer continental temperature profile (Dwb), and given the mildness of northern latitudes in recent decades, the regime is likely to be so if newer averages were used.
The first department to explore the local area was established in 1949 in order to have historical and ethnographic exhibits. As a result of the collection of antique books and geological samples, the first building foundations were laid to explore the local area. In 1967, it eventually became a museum to research the local area and grew the collection to include approximately 1000 exhibits and artifacts. In 1987, a zoo was constructed and opened its doors next to the museum. The zoo showed people wild animals, birds, and local breeds of livestock. In 2010, the museum was reorganized and currently Khövsgöl province's local history museum operates with 13 employees, 3 halls, consisting of 3693 exhibits and artifacts from 1860 locations. In the museum, rare and valuable exhibits are included. For instance, 108 tomes of Ganjuur (also known as Kanjur) scripture, mammoth tusks, a meteor that weighs about 52.5 kilograms, as well as a flint gun and sword of Chingunjav who was the Khalkha prince ruler of the Khotogoid among other historical and ethnographic artifacts.
Media related to Mörön at Wikimedia Commons
