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

Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...

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 ''Türbe'' is the Turkish word for "tomb". In Istanbul it is often used to refer to the mausolea of the Ottoman sultans and other nobles and notables. The word is derived from the Arabic ''turbah'' (meaning ''"soil/ground/earth"''), which ...

'') near the village of

Sveshtari The Thracian Tomb of Svestari (Свещарска гробница, ''Sveshtarska grobnitsa'') is 2.5 km southwest of the village of Sveshtari, Razgrad Province, which is 42 km northeast of Razgrad, in northeast Bulgaria. The tomb is pro ...

Isperih Isperih ( bg, Исперих ; tr, Kemallar) 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 ...

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 Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. 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

heptagon In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon. The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using "sept-" (an elision of ''septua-'', a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than ''hepta-'', a Greek-derived num ...

al building constructed out of local

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

. 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 The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

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 (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

that was mentioned by travellers in the 18th and 19th centuries but was then destroyed, and a wooden public kitchen (''

imaret Imaret, sometimes also known as a ''darüzziyafe'', is one of a few names used to identify the public soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to the 19th centuries. These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex ...

'') 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; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

. 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 Felix Philipp Kanitz ( he, פליקס פיליפ קאניץ. 2 August 1829 – 8 January 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian naturalist, geographer, ethnographer, archaeologist, painter and author of travel notes, of Jewish heritage. Biography Kanit ...

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