Demir Baba Teke ( bg, Демир баба теке; tr, Demir Baba Tekkesi) is a 16th-century Alevi

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

('' türbe'') near the village of Sveshtari, Isperih municipality,

Razgrad Province Razgrad Province ( bg, Област Разград (''Oblast Razgrad''), former name Razgrad okrug) is a province in Northeastern Bulgaria, geographically part of the Ludogorie region. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre ...

in northeastern Bulgaria. As part of the Sboryanovo historical and archaeological reserve, Demir Baba Teke is one of the

100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria is a Bulgarian national movement established in 1966 to promote tourism among Bulgaria's most significant cultural, historic, and natural landmarks. As part of this program, sites of cultural and historical signific ...

. The mausoleum is thought to be the resting place of Demir Baba, a 16th-century Alevi saint. The tomb itself is a heptagonal building constructed out of local sandstone. It has a lower rectangular antechamber and is covered by a hemispherical dome in height. Demir Baba's grave lies in the middle of the heptagonal inner premises. Constructed out of bricks and wood, the

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

is in length and is positioned with the saint's head pointing southwest. The sarcophagus is usually entirely covered by gifts and is only rarely displayed to Alevi pilgrims. The mausoleum is thought to have been constructed in the 16th century on what was probably an ancient Thracian holy site from the 4th century BC. A cult complex ('' tekke'') gradually emerged around the ''türbe''. This included a holy spring, a mosque that was mentioned by travellers in the 18th and 19th centuries but was then destroyed, and a wooden public kitchen ('' imaret'') which was pulled down in 1976 due to its deteriorating condition. The ''tekke'' features that have survived until today are the mausoleum, the holy spring, a residential building and a low stone fence surrounding the complex. A small exhibition in the residential building explains the story of the Alevis and Demir Baba himself. Demir Baba Teke was proclaimed a monument of culture of local importance in 1970 by the government of the then- People's Republic of Bulgaria. The mausoleum was renovated in 1991–1994: the decaying wooden floor was replaced with a new one and the building's interior decorative elements (including the 19th-century

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

) were reconstructed.

Gallery

File:Kanitz - Demir baba teke.png, Demir Baba Teke as seen by Austrian traveller Felix Philipp Kanitz in the 19th century File:Demir Baba Teke Ehtrance.JPG, View towards the entrance of the mausoleum File:Demir Baba tekkesi Razgrad isperih.jpg, Distant view towards the complex

Gallery

References

Further reading