The Genghis Khan Mausoleum (成吉思汗陵), 55 kilometres south of Ordos's Dongsheng district, is not the actual tomb of the Mongol conqueror — scholars agree that Genghis Khan was buried somewhere in Mongolia and the location has never been identified. What the mausoleum represents is something different: a place of continuous ritual veneration maintained by a hereditary clan of guardians, the Darkhad, who have been tending the complex since the 13th century. For ethnic Mongolians, it is one of the holiest places in their cultural world.
The complex consists of three yurt-shaped domed halls covered in yellow and blue tiles, set in an open landscape of steppe and desert. The architecture is striking — the domes are a distinctive hybrid of Tibetan Buddhist and traditional Mongolian forms — and the setting, with the Kubuqi Desert visible to the north, is dramatic. A large museum attached to the complex covers Mongolian imperial history with good maps, artefacts, and explanatory panels. The ritual ceremonies conducted here on important dates — particularly on March 21, the anniversary of Genghis Khan's death — are impressive events if you can time a visit around them.