Ger Roof

The roof of the Mongolian ger (yurt) is a lightweight, portable structure of timber poles and felt that can be dismantled, moved and re-erected. Its design, refined over more than two millennia on the Central Asian steppe, combines a compression ring at the top, straight radiating poles and insulating felt.

Parts of the roof

• Toono - the wooden crown ring at the apex. It works as a compression ring for the roof poles, admits daylight and lets smoke escape from the central stove. In the Mongolian ger it is supported by one or more columns. Older crowns of the sarkhinag type gave way to the khorlo toono, shaped like the Buddhist dharma wheel.
• Uni - the roof poles, which run from the top of the lattice wall to the crown. In the Mongolian ger they are straight, unlike the bent poles of some other Central Asian yurts.
• Khana - the expanding lattice wall sections on which the poles rest.
• Ropes or bands - tie the frame together around the wall head.

Covering

The frame is covered with pieces of felt. Depending on what is available, the felt is covered by canvas and, in summer, by sun covers. A thin undercover is laid on the roof slopes first and an outer cover goes on last. The whole structure is kept in compression by the weight of the covers, sometimes supplemented by a heavy weight hung from the centre of the roof.

Performance

The ger roof is light and portable, and the felt layers provide insulation against the steppe winter. Because the structure is light and flexible, gers have very low vulnerability to earthquakes.

History

Yurt-type tents have been used in Central Asia for at least 2,500 years, and the earliest written description is usually traced to Herodotus' account of the Scythians. During the 13th-century Mongol Empire the dwelling spread to parts of Europe and the Middle East. Its names in Manchu (monggo boo) and Chinese (menggu bao, 蒙古包) mean "Mongol house".

Use today

Gers remain the main dwelling of rural households in Mongolia and are common in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar. Modern gers are typically described as wooden frames with durable, waterproof covering sheets.