Mongolia, as one of the geographical and semantic centerpieces of Central Asia, has remained in focus of Finno-Ugric, Altaic and Turkic studies for several generations. Expeditions and academic publications in the 1840s-1910s were given special attention due to growing political tension in a strategically important region, where the interests of the "Great Powers", Japan and China, converged. The search for Oriental rarities and negotiations with the leaders and religious figures of Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang took place against the backdrop of tense social situation in a multiethnic and multiconfessional land. Mongolia, the Mongolian language and ethnoculture have gained prominence in the scholarly discourse of Finno-Ugric studies. By looking into Mongolian materials, Finnish and Hungarian researchers have tried either to confirm or to disprove the linguistic and ethnogenetic closeness of their own ethnicities to the Central Asian cultures of the past. M.A. Castrén and A. Csoma de Kőrös had paved the first roads of research to the East, after which the expeditions of J.R. Aspelin, H. Vámbéry, A.O. Heikel, K.G. Mannerheim, G.J. Ramstedt and J.G. Granö followed. A leading role in the organization of field research in Southern Siberia, Altai and Mongolia was played by the Finnish-Ugric Society, established in 1883, and its longstanding Chairman, Professor O. Donner. Studying the oral poetry, literary and monumental heritage of Mongolia, scholars have directly or indirectly touched upon the issues of  ethnic identity and self-representation of contemporary Finno-Ugric peoples. In this case, the scholarly dialogue was combined with discussions on domestic politics and international affairs at the same expedition tent.