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It is located in Saikhan-Ovoo soum of Dundgovi province. One of the biggest monasteries in Mongolia, Ongi was founded in 1660 and consisted of two temple complexes on the North and South banks of the river Ongi. At its heyday, Ongi monastery grounds housed around 30 temples, 4 big Buddhism universities and over 1000 monks at a time. During 1930s, communism spread throughout Mongolia. As part of their ideological campaign and rise to power, Communists arrested most monks. In 1939, the monastery was destroyed completely, over 200 monks were killed, and many surviving monks were imprisoned or forced to join the Communist controlled army. Other monks escaped certain death by becoming farmers and common workers.