Living in a ger in Mongolia

A ger has walls that fold up like a fence.

Long poles reach up from the walls to a round ring at the top. Thick felt covers it all. A rope ties it tight.

The walls of a ger are made of khana, folding lattice sections of crisscrossed wooden poles, like a fence that can be pushed flat. Long straight roof poles, called uni, run from the walls up to a wooden ring at the top, called the crown. The round opening it makes is the toono, which lets in light and air.

The frame is covered with layers of white felt and canvas and tightened with ropes of animal hair. Inside, felt rugs cover the floor. A ger is usually a little over 2 meters high at the walls.

UNESCO describes the ger as a round structure of walls, poles and a peaked roof covered with canvas and felt and tightened with ropes, and notes that its structure is the same across the country: a painted, decorated wooden frame, covers of white felt and canvas, ropes of animal hair, flooring and carpets of hand-sewn felt, and furniture.

National Geographic names the parts. The walls are khana, collapsible lattices of light wood such as willow, birch or poplar, joined with ropes of leather or animal hair. The straight roof poles, uni, attach to a central ring, the crown, whose opening, the toono, admits air and light and lets a chimney pass through; columns called bagana sometimes support a heavy crown. Most covers have three to five layers of felt with an outer waterproof canvas, and a ger stands a little over 2 m high, with a gently sloping roof rising about another meter.

Putting up a ger is a family job.

Grown-ups stand the walls in a circle and lift the roof poles. Children watch and learn. Soon the family has a cozy home.

Taking a ger down and putting it back up is always a family job, and children learn by watching their elders. A ger takes between half an hour and three hours to put up or take down.

Making a ger is teamwork too. Men usually carve the wooden frame, while women and men paint it, sew and stitch the covers and make the felt. Young people learn these skills from an experienced craftsperson, and ger makers are highly respected.

UNESCO's inscription stresses that ger craftsmanship is a household or group enterprise: men carve the wood, and both women and men paint, sew and stitch, and make felt. Cutting and preparing sheep's wool, making felt, stitching canvas and preparing woodwork are usually communal. The skills pass to younger generations mainly through mentoring by a senior craftsperson, and makers are highly respected.

Dismantling and reassembling the ger are always family operations, with children learning by watching. National Geographic gives 30 minutes to 3 hours to set up or take down a yurt, which usually houses five to 15 people. The structure is flexible enough to fold and pack, light enough for nomads to carry, and sturdy enough to be taken apart and rebuilt again and again.

Mongolia has strong winds and cold winters.

The ger's round shape lets the wind slide around it. Thick felt keeps the heat in. A stove in the middle warms the whole home.

Felt is a thick cloth made by pressing wool together, often from the family's own sheep, goats or yaks. Several layers of felt wrapped around the ger keep the heat in, and in the coldest weather families can add more.

A wood-burning iron stove sits in the middle of a traditional ger, with its chimney poking out through the toono at the top. Because the ger is round, the stove heats it evenly, and the round shape also stands up to wind from any direction. UNESCO says a ger can withstand Mongolia's fierce spring winds.

The ger's form suits the steppe climate, National Geographic explains. A circular plan resists wind from any direction and is efficiently heated and cooled; the low, sloping roof makes it unlikely that wind will tear off the roof poles; and the door, the one vulnerable point, is usually a strong wooden frame or a wooden door rather than a felt flap. UNESCO notes that the ger can withstand Mongolia's fierce spring winds.

Warmth comes from felt and fire. The covering felt is usually made from the wool of the herders' sheep, goats or yaks; the traditional method was to wet the wool, roll it around a pole, wrap it in yak hide and drag it behind a galloping horse to compress the fibers. A central iron stove spreads heat evenly, its chimney rising through the toono, while the crown opening keeps fresh air circulating; extra layers of felt can be added for the coldest months.

Herding families move to find fresh grass for their animals.

They fold up the ger and pack it. Horses, camels or yaks can carry it. Then they put it up in a new place.

Gers were made for a moving life. Herding families set up their ger wherever there is good pasture, grass for their animals. When it is time to move, the ger is taken apart, packed and carried by horses, camels or yaks, or on a small wagon.

In the past, Central Asian nomads often moved several times a year. A large family ger could be taken down in about an hour and carried by two or three pack animals. The door of a ger traditionally faces south.

Britannica describes the yurt as pitched wherever the nomad finds good pasture for the herds and carried from place to place on horseback or on a small wagon. National Geographic notes that Central Asian nomads historically moved several times a year, and that large family gers could be dismantled in an hour and hauled on two or three pack animals such as horses, camels or yaks.

Because the treeless steppe offers no timber, herders historically traded for wood with people in river valleys, buying logs, pre-cut poles or complete khana. When set up, a ger traditionally faces its door to the south. In the rainy season, families may dig a shallow trench around it to catch the rain and keep the floor from becoming muddy.

Gers are not only out on the grassland.

Around the big city of Ulaanbaatar, many families live in gers too. Their neighborhoods are called ger districts.

Ulaanbaatar is Mongolia's capital and biggest city, with tall buildings, a university, theaters and museums. About half of Mongolia's people live there.

The city also has neighborhoods called ger districts, where many families live in gers. Across Mongolia, the 2010 census counted about 45 of every 100 households living in a ger, fewer than in 2000. In winter, many of these homes are heated with stoves that burn coal, and UNICEF says this smoke is the city's biggest source of winter air pollution. Mongolia's government and UNICEF are working on cleaner heating.

Ulaanbaatar is Mongolia's main industrial center and home to the National University of Mongolia (1942) and the Academy of Sciences, linked by railroad and international airport to China and Russia. UNICEF reports that about half of Mongolia's roughly three million people live in the city, which includes the ger districts that UNICEF describes as informal settlements. Mongolia's 2010 census found 45.2 percent of all households living in gers, 5.7 points fewer than in 2000; among urban households the share was 32.7 percent.

Winter heating there affects the whole city. UNICEF identifies coal-burning stoves in the ger districts during the cold season as the most important source of Ulaanbaatar's air pollution, and it supports national authorities in piloting and scaling up low-carbon technologies in households and institutions.