Why You Can't Visit Genghis Khan's Grave

In a post about Attila the Hun, I mentioned that Genghis Khan's life was much better documented. But that only goes so far. After the Khan had conquered almost all of Asia and parts of Europe, he wished for privacy in death. He died in the year 1227, in August, but the news wasn't made public for some time, lest it interfere with the Mongols' current battle campaign. No one knows the cause of death, although contemporary accounts make some wild and differing claims. His funeral procession took his body back to Mongolia where extreme care was taken to keep his burial place a secret. It's been said that witnesses were executed, and then the executioners were also killed.

Mongolia, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan have all claimed to be the site of Genghis Khan's tomb. However, we know that the sacred mountain in Mongolia called Burkhan Khaldun was an inspiration to him in his younger days, when his name was Temüjin. He had asked to be buried on the mountain a few times during his life. After the Khan's death, a 93-square-mile (240 square kilometers) area around Burkhan Khaldun called Khan Khentii was declared a "taboo zone" and stayed that way for seven centuries. It was fairly inaccessible anyway, but trespassers were killed. The exception was Genghis Khan's family. Khan Khentii eventually fell under Soviet rule, then Mongolian rule, and now its a UNESCO World Heritage site, but it's still not exactly open to the public. Read about this mysterious plot of land and its history at Atlas Obscura.