Kharkhorin, Mongolia

Kharkhorin - or Karakorum - was the capital of Genghis Khan's vast Mongol Empire. Delegations from Western Europe and Africa to India and Japan all converged on the sweeping plains here in order to pledge tribute and petition the Khan. Eventually, the city was sacked repeatedly, until the Mongol Empire fell to Manchu forces. The Manchu encouraged the study of Buddhism to pacify the Mongol people, and in the ruins of Karakorum, Erdene Zuu monastery was established using the stones of the ruined city. This monastery flourished until 1939, when the monastery was destroyed in a Communist purge and most of the monks killed. At the behest of Joseph Stalin, three temples and the monastery walls were left standing as a tribute to Mongolian cultural heritage.