Demir Baba Teke (; ) is a 16th-century Alevi

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

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

Isperih Isperih ( ; ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Razgrad Province, situated in the central part of the Ludogorie region. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Isperih Municipality. As of December 2009, the town had a population ...

municipality,

Razgrad Province Razgrad Province ( (''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: the town of Razgrad. As of De ...

in northeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. As part of the Sboryanovo historical and archaeological reserve, Demir Baba Teke is one of the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria. 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 Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. 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 (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

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 The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

holy site from the 4th century BC. A cult complex ('' tekke'') gradually emerged around the ''türbe''. This included a holy spring, a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

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 People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; , NRB; ) was the official name of Bulgaria when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; ) together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agraria ...

. 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) 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

See also

References

Further reading