In commemoration of the centennial of the establishment of the Museum Sector in Mongolia, an Honorary Session was held at the State Palace of Mongolia on December 24, 2024.

The first museum in Mongolia was established and opened to the public in December 1924. Since then, the museum sector has expanded to include over 40 museums, housing more than 336,000 artifacts and employing more than 1,200 people.

In 2021, Mongolia became one of the few Asian countries to pass the Law on Museums. A museum is a non-profit cultural and academic institution responsible for registering, collecting, preserving, studying, promoting, and disseminating cultural values and heritages.

Minister of Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth of Mongolia Nomin Chinbat opened the Session, emphasizing, “100 years ago, a museum sector was established in Mongolia and began to make a valuable contribution to enlightenment. Since then, museums have fulfilled their role in collecting, preserving, promoting, and showcasing our national heritage to the world.

Over the past four years, we have passed the first Law on Museums, allowing children under 16 to visit museums for free while offering discounts to people with developmental challenges and senior citizens. Moreover, we have made it a tradition to organize the Museum Open Day during the first week of March each year, providing free entry for the public. The Chinggis Khaan National Museum of Mongolia and two local museums have been put into operation, and the construction work on four museums has been completed. We have also upgraded the security and preservation systems in all state and local museums. Compared to 2019, the number of museum visitors has increased by 40 percent, reaching 1.1 million, and revenue has grown by 1.5 times, amounting to MNT 4.2 billion. The number of museum staff has increased by 12.5 percent compared to 2019.

The Chinggis Khaan National Museum of Mongolia was named one of the must-see museums in 2024 by National Geographic, while the French magazine Historia named the exhibition “Chinggis Khaan: How the Mongols Changed the World” displayed in Nantes, France, the best exhibition of 2023.

In the future, we aim at opening the National Museum of Natural Sciences, and the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, further developing the museum sector regionally and internationally.”

At the Session, Head of the Documentation and Monitoring Department of the Office of the President of Mongolia Yanjinsuren Sodnomdorj read out the congratulations of President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa. Furthermore, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Education, Culture, Science and Sports of the State Great Khural of Mongolia Undram Chinbat delivered greetings.

The Session was attended by more than 700 representatives from public and private museums.