Overview
Bars-Hot or Kherlen Bars () was a city built by the Khitan people in the basin of the Kherlen River in Tsagaan-Ovoo, Dornod Province, Mongolia. During the Liao dynasty it was called Hedong City (). It occupied an area of 1.6 by 1.8 kilometres and was surrounded with mud walls, which are today 4 metres thick and 1.5–2 metres high.
Bars-Hot Pagoda
A ruined octagonal brick pagoda (sometimes referred to as a stupa or a watchtower) dating to the 11th century is located near the city walls. It originally comprised seven stories, but its top section is now missing. There were originally a pair of pagodas at this site, but in the 1940s the Soviet garrison used cannon fire to destroy the smaller pagoda. Although the remaining pagoda is missing its top section, at in height it is the tallest surviving pre-modern structure in Mongolia. The pagoda was extensively restored and reconstructed between 2014 and 2016 and now belongs to several attractions related to the Khitan in eastern Mongolia.