Demir Baba Teke

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Practices Zakat Zeyārat Taqiyya Ashura Hıdırellez Nowruz Saya Mawlid Music Düşkünlük Meydanı Fasting Müsahiplik Buyruks
The Twelve Imams Ali Hasan Husayn al-Abidin al-Baqir al-Sadiq al-Kazim ar-Rida al-Taqi al-Naqi al-Askari al-Mahdi
Leadership Nabi Dede Murshid Pir Rehber Baba Jem Cemevi
Important figures Ahi Evren Haji Bektash Veli Sari Saltik Demir Baba Arabati Baba Pir Sultan Abdal Kul Nesîmî Sheikh Bedreddin Börklüce Mustafa Torlak Kemal Baba Ishak Seyid Riza
History Babak Khorramdin Maziar Babai revolt Celali rebellions Ottoman persecution of Alevis Baba Zünnun Rebellion Kalender Çelebi rebellion Nur Ali Halife rebellion Şahkulu Rebellion Battle of Chaldiran Abaza rebellion Koçgiri Rebellion Dersim Rebellion Maraş Massacre Çorum Massacre Sivas Massacre Gazi Quarter riots
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43°44′19″N 26°45′07″E / 43.73863°N 26.75196°E / 43.73863; 26.75196

Demir Baba Teke (Bulgarian: Демир баба теке; Turkish: Demir Baba Tekkesi) is a 16th-century Alevi mausoleum (türbe) near the village of Sveshtari, Isperih municipality, Razgrad Province in northeastern Bulgaria. 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. It has a lower rectangular antechamber and is covered by a hemispherical dome 11 metres (36 ft) in height. Demir Baba's grave lies in the middle of the heptagonal inner premises. Constructed out of bricks and wood, the sarcophagus is 3.74 metres (12.3 ft) in length and is positioned with the saint's head pointing southwest.^[1] 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.^[1] A small exhibition in the residential building explains the story of the Alevis and Demir Baba himself.^[2]

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) were reconstructed.^[1]

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  Demir Baba Teke as seen by Austrian traveller Felix Philipp Kanitz in the 19th century
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  View towards the entrance of the mausoleum
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  Distant view towards the complex

• Razgrad Incident
• Ibrahim Pasha mosque

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demir Baba Tekkesi.

• Венедикова, Катерина; Диана Гергова (2006). Демир Баба Теке — Българският Ерусалим (in Bulgarian). Агато. ISBN 978-954-8761-77-2.
• Теодоров, Евгений К.; Диана Гергова (2006). Прабългарски и тракийски следи (in Bulgarian). София: ИК "Изток-Запад". ISBN 954-321-299-6.
• И. Георгиева., ed. (1997). Българските алиани. Сборник етнографски материали (in Bulgarian). София.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Гергова, Диана (2004). Сборяново — свещената земя на гетите (in Bulgarian). София: Български бестселър.
• Demir Baba Teke – a holy place in Bulgaria for 3,000 years - article on 203challenges.com