Khamriin khiid was established in the 1820’s by famous 19th century Mongolian educator and literary figure Danzanravjaa. The Monastery was an important center of the Buddhist “red sect”, and seat of the Gobiin Dogshin Noyon Khutagt. An outspoken critic of the society in which he lived, Danzanravjaa fought against the rigid class and gender distinctions of his day. He devoted great efforts to the cause of public education, which he promoted at the Khamriin Khiid monastery through the establishment of an inclusive public school, theatre, museum and library.
To the north of the monastery were a series of caves where monks would practice yogic exercises and meditate in isolation for 108 days at a time, hardening their bodies whilst expanding their physical and spiritual powers. Fossilized dinosaur bones, petrified wood, and other rare paleontological remains are widespread in the area surrounding the monastery. Paleontologists working in the region have dug up, most notably a skeleton of the Herbivorous Dinosaur Iguanodon, which lived in the Cretaceous period between 80 and 200 million years ago. At its peakKhamriin khiid monastery consisted of four main sections – East Khuree, west Khuree, Tsokhon and Dunkher – comprising four colleges (Datsan) and the children’s school, more than eighty temples, and a resident population of over five hundred lamas.