Kioutouklou Baba Tekke, Ottoman tomb in Selino Xanthis, Greece
Kioutouklou Baba Tekke is an Ottoman mausoleum (türbe) on the western shore of Lake Vistonida, northwest of Selino in the Xanthi regional unit. Only the tomb survives: a stone octagonal building with a domed roof, likely built in the 15th or early 16th century. Its eastern part has been turned into a makeshift church dedicated to Saint George.
The octagonal stone mausoleum is dated by its form to the fifteenth or early sixteenth century. A dervish lodge stood here before 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II destroyed it during his campaign against the Janissaries linked to the Bektashi order. Local tradition holds that an earlier church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, occupied the spot; some link it to Berenger D'Entensa, a Catalan Company knight killed in 1307.
Muslims venerate the site as the tomb of Kütüklü Baba, while Christians converted its eastern part into a makeshift church dedicated to Saint George. A local theory links Muslim attendance to the Bektashi/Alevi practice shared with the cult of Saint George. Greek speakers simply call it "the tekke", though the building is a türbe.
The monument stands on the western shore of Lake Vistonida, northwest of Selino in the Xanthi regional unit, close to the site of ancient Anastasiopolis-Peritheorion. Only the octagonal domed mausoleum survives, so the visit is short; the eastern part serves as a makeshift chapel of Saint George. Approach on foot from the nearby road.
The building is a türbe, not a tekke: the dervish lodge of that name stood here before 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II destroyed it during his campaign against the Janissaries and the Bektashi order. The octagonal domed tomb that survives is what locals call the tekke. Christians use its eastern part as a makeshift church of Saint George.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,283 contributors worldwide.