The Kütüklü Baba Tekke (, ) is an Ottoman ''

khanqah A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'' ...

'' in the region of

Western Thrace Western Thrace or West Thrace (, '' ytikíThráki'' ), also known as Greek Thrace or Aegean Thrace, is a geographical and historical region of Greece, between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country; East Thrace, which lie ...

, in northern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It dates back to around the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It lies close to site of ancient Anastasiopolis-Peritheorion, near modern Selino in the Xanthi regional unit. Today it is utilised as a shrine by both the Muslim and Christian communities of Greek Thrace.

Name

To the Muslim inhabitants of the area the building is known by its full name, while the Christians simply refer to it as ''the tekke''. The designation of " tekke", that is, a

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...

gathering place, instead of a ''

türbe ''Türbe'' refers to a Muslim mausoleum, tomb or grave often in the Turkish-speaking areas and for the mausolea of Ottoman sultans, nobles and notables. A typical türbe is located in the grounds of a mosque or complex, often endowed by the ...

'' (a burial monument), however is incorrect. This is due to the fact that before 1826 a dervish tekke did stand in the area, which was then destroyed by Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

. Sultan Mahmud at that time campaigned to expel all the Janissaries whose members were associated with the

Bektashi order Bektashism (, ) is a Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The Bektashi co ...

of dervishism.

History

According to one theory, Kütüklü Baba was a dervish who served under the Ottoman general Gazi

Evrenos Evrenos or Evrenuz (1288–1417, Yenice-i Vardar) was an Ottoman military commander. He served as a general under Süleyman Pasha, Murad I, Bayezid I, Süleyman Çelebi and Mehmed I. Legends stating that he lived for 129 years and had an incr ...

and built this tekke during his military campaign.

Architecture

20120519_interior_Kutuklu_Baba_Tekkesi_Selino_Rhodope_West_Thrace_Greece

The tekke, based on its architectural structure (octagonal room) is likely to have been built in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Today only the türbe (mausoleum) is preserved, which is a stone octagonal building with a domed roof. It is possible that the tekke was erected on the ruins of a previous Christian church. Today the tekke is utilized as a religious place by the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

residents both. The Muslims venerate it as the tomb of Kütüklü Baba, while the Christians have converted the eastern part of the monument into a makeshift church dedicated to Saint George.

Local tradition and folklore

According to one theory (Tsigaras) the attendance of Muslims is due to the fact that the cult of Saint George is connected with the Bektasi/Alevi practice. Zenkinis writes that when refugees from

East Thrace East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...

arrived in the area in 1920, they found dervishes inside the tekke and were told that the tekke had originally been a Christian church dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

. The existence of this tradition is also confirmed by the Byzantine scholar Charalambos Bakirtzis. According to another tradition, this church was the burial place of a

Catalan Company The Catalan Company or the Great Catalan Company (; , , , or ) was a company of mercenaries led by Roger de Flor in the early 14th century and hired by Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos to combat the increasing power of the Anatolian b ...

knight named Berenger D'Entensa, who was killed in a skirmish with the men of En Rocafort's comrade-in-arms during their march from

Gelibolu Gelibolu is a town in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara Region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey. It is located on the southern shore of the Gallipoli, peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, away from Lapsek ...

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

1307 Year 1307 ( MCCCVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January – March * January 13 – (11th waxing of Tabodwe 668 ME, Burmese calendar) After a reign of almost 20 years, King Wareru, who founded ...

. According to Lowry, if a church did exist in the area in the fourteenth century it is more likely that building material from it was re-used for the tekke.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Commons category-inline Bektashi tekkes Tekkes in Greece Ottoman architecture in Western Thrace Buildings and structures in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Xanthi (regional unit) 16th-century architecture in Greece Churches in Greece 15th-century architecture in Greece