Mongolians have been proud of the thousand-year rich history, unique nomadic civilization, and precious heritage of independence. It is our duty to tie all of this together by studying and respecting the Mongolian traditional script and calligraphy. “Bichig Soyol” center works to preserve and protect the heritage of Mongolian calligraphy, language and writing culture, and to develop and disseminate it. Exhibitions such as “Eternal Sky Writing”, “Bichig Soyol”, “One World Poetry”, and “Goo Bekhi” have been organized over the last years. In 2016, the International Association of Mongolian Calligraphy was established and has been working actively since then. From 2022, with the support of the SRP Rising LLC, the “Bichig Soyol” gallery was opened and is expanding its operations in the field of exhibitions and training.

Although Mongolia uses the Cyrillic script which was adopted during the Communist era, Mongolian calligraphy is written in the traditional Mongolian script. In 2013, Mongolian calligraphy was inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. It is written vertically by continuous strokes to create words. The letters are formed from six main strokes, known as head, tooth, stem, stomach, bow and tail. Traditionally, mentors select the best students and train them to be calligraphers over a period of five to eight years. Students and teachers bond for life and continue to stimulate each other’s artistic endeavors. However, the rate of social transformation, urbanization and globalization have led to a significant drop in the number of young calligraphers in recent years. Therefore communities such as the Bichig Soyol center have been trying to preserve or disseminate this exquisite form of tradition and history. 

“Bichig Soyol” center works to support artists, high school teachers, university students, and high school students. The Bichig Soyol exhibition has been organized for 15 years in cooperation with the Union of Mongolian Artists to pass on, spread, and promote Mongolian calligraphy to the next generation, as well as to support the innovative ideas and talents of artists.

Moreover, the Bichig Soyol-2024 exhibition hall is divided into two parts. Artists, teachers, and students have created joint works in one hall, in the other one, solo works of art are being displayed. This year, 34 artists, teachers, students of universities and general schools have participated in this exhibition with their works of arts. If you want to experience seeing how those artists recreated and co-made those historical writings, please come to the Bichig Soyol exhibition which will be displayed until June 11 at the Union of Mongolian Artists. 

The joint work named “Gate of Sky”

More than 20 artists worked together to write the famous Indian poet the Cloud-Messenger by Kalidasa on a 12-meter-long piece of paper. The composition consists of 120 stanzas and 480 lines praising the beauty of a woman.

Mongolian pride

“Mongolian Pride” was first created for the Bichig Soyol-2013 exhibition. The new version was created for this year’s exhibition in 360x400 size. 

Genealogy

Artists and teachers have written and created the copy of genealogy starting with Chinggis Khaan.