The Gandantegchinlen (meaning Great Place of Complete Joy) Monastery in Ulaan Baatar features a 25 metre tall statue called Migjid Janraisig, “the Lord who looks in every direction.” The original was built in the early 20th century in an effort to restore the sight of Bogd Javzandamba, the eighth Jebtsundamba, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. The statue was dismantled and taken away by the Soviets in 1938, but it was rebuilt in 1996 with donations from the Mongolian people. The statue is gilded solid copper. Well, almost solid. Precious cultural materials are encased within it. Including seeds of dozens of the country’s wheat landraces, according to my friends at the national genebank in Darkhan.