MB Civic

“This is the most beautiful and important holiday of our country,” Tsendsuren Majaa, who was attending the games in the western town of Arvaikheer, told Reuters news agency.

In an opening ceremony at the Central Stadium in the capital, Ulan Batur, 800 musicians played the national anthem while men in traditional warrior garb rode around the arena on horses.

National hero

Ahead of the festival, an eight-metre high statue of the Genghis Khan was unveiled in Ulan Batur on Monday.

Crowds gathered to watch the unveiling of the tribute to their national hero.

“For Mongolians, he’s almost like Jesus Christ. They feel very close to him,” the president of Chinggis Khaan University, Kh. Lkhagvasuren, told the AFP news agency.Genghis Khan united warring tribes in Central Asia to establish the Mongol empire in 1206.

At the height of its power, under his descendants, the enormous empire encompassed lands that are now China, Russia, Iraq and Iran.

Mongolia’s first rock opera – another tribute to Genghis Khan – was performed in May as part of celebrations marking the country’s founding.

In recent weeks, the authorities have released some 700 prisoners, about 10% of the nation’s prison population, to mark the anniversary, the AFP news agency said.