According to Sunglasses Tracker, the city of Kyakhta is located in the very south of Buryatia on the border with Mongolia.
It was founded in 1727 on the banks of the Kyakhta River after issues with China over borders were finally resolved. The Novotroitskaya fortress with the Church of the Holy Trinity was erected here, and the settlement that later grew around it was called Troitskosavsk. Troitskosavsk immediately became a center of trade with China, and already in 1728, the Kyakhta trading settlement began to be built near it. In 1743, by decree of the Senate, this outpost was officially elevated to the rank of a trading post. The settlement gained particular fame in the late 18th – mid-19th centuries, when in Russia and tea became popular in European countries. By the end of the 19th century, there were 276 merchants here, and Troitskosavsk became the main border center on the Great Tea Road. After the launch of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Chinese Eastern Railway and the construction of the Suez Canal, Troitskosavsk lost its significance, because goods began to be delivered to Russiaby other routes. The city was merged with a nearby trading settlement and renamed Kyakhta in 1934.
The main attraction of Kyakhta and the place where the development of the city began is the Trinity Cathedral. The original wooden temple on this site was built in 1728. At the beginning of the 19th century, a stone cathedral was erected here. It was made in the style of classicism. The Trinity Cathedral was one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in Transbaikalia. In 1934, the cathedral was closed by the Soviet authorities, and in 1964 it was badly damaged by a fire. To this day, the Trinity Cathedral has come down partially destroyed and dilapidated.
Beautiful city buildings of the 19th century, which were built with the money of wealthy merchants. The most grandiose building of those times was the Gostiny Dvor complex.. Two buildings in the form of closed rectangles, one of which is located inside the other, were erected in 1842. The larger building had 72 rooms. At first, Gostiny Dvor was run by the city merchants, in 1900 there was a customs office, and today there is a spinning and knitting factory. Be sure to go to the house of the merchant A.M. Lushnikov. A wealthy merchant spared no expense in decorating his two-story mansion – the facade of the house is finished with rustication and wedge-shaped lintels over the window openings, the stone fence with three-leaf gates that continues the facade is impressive, and the windows of the second floor are decorated with carved platbands. The house of the merchant A.D. has survived to this day. Startseva, where the Kyakhta branch of the Russian Geographical Society is now located. Also of interest are the Embassy House (18th century) and the building of the City School with the Museum of Local Lore named after V.A. Obruchev. The Obruchev Museum is the oldest museum in Transbaikalia. Its funds include 30 thousand units of storage. The expositions of the museum include archaeological materials from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages, collections that tell about the emergence of the city and its life during its heyday (18-19 centuries), collections of the flora and fauna of Transbaikalia, as well as some other natural areas of the world, reviews of the routes of Russian geographers-researchers of Central Asia of the 19th century, their personal belongings and expedition equipment, collections of material culture of the peoples of Transbaikalia, Mongolia and China, collections of decorative and applied arts of Russia, Europe, China and Japan of the 17th-20th centuries and relics of the Buddhist and Orthodox religions. Kiran resort is located 30 km from Kyakhta on the shores of Lake Kiran.. Lake Kiran is drainless, its waters are a saturated salt solution of a hydrocarbonate-chloride magnesium-sodium composition containing bromine, metaboric acid, hydrogen sulfide and iron sulfide. At the bottom of the lake lies a two-meter layer of silt sulfide highly mineralized therapeutic mud. With the help of lake water and mud in Kiran, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, muscular system, nervous peripheral system, genitourinary system, skin diseases, cerebral palsy, as well as the consequences of injuries and bruises of the brain are treated. In addition, therapeutic mud is also used for cosmetic procedures. The infrastructure at the resort is still poorly developed.
40 km from Kyakhta is the village of Murochi, where in 1741 a tent was erected for Buddhist worship. Now there is a Buddhist temple on this place – Murochinsky Datsan. Murochinsky Datsan became the first Buddhist temple and the center for the spread of Lamaism in Transbaikalia. Now, in addition to Datsan, you can see here restored small temples and a stupa, as well as the sacred rock Ranzhur located nearby with a prayer inscription discovered about 200 years ago. It is believed that this inscription was left by the Buddha, and there are only two such places in the world, the other is in Nepal. The rock is a famous place of pilgrimage.