Gül Baba Shrine

OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURAL WORKS OUTSIDE TÜRKİYE

Hungaria - Gülbaba

He is a poet dervish of the Bektashi order, lived between the end of the XVth century and the beginnig of the XVlth century. According what his father had said, he is from Merzifon and had joined many wars from the period of Fatih till 1541 when he was martyred at the conquest of Budin (Buda) during the period ol Kanunî. The information should be taken form Evliya Çelebi again, that Sheikhulislam Ebussud Elendi conducted his funeral prayer on 2 September 1541 and Kanunî Sultan Süleyman attended this prayer, too. Evliya Çelebi expounded that the reason why this nickname was given to Gül Baba, who joined the wars with a big sword in his hand, was that he always used to carry a rose attached to his hat.

In his book of travels, Evliya Çetebi, who had visited Budin in 1663, says that: "Gül Baba is buried in a garden full of flowers, under a dome covered with lead. His sarcophagus is covered with green broadcloth and there are two crowns of the Bektashi order at his both blessed heads. It is ornamented with various verses of Koran in Arabic letters all around. "

Evliya Çelebi was mistaken since he confused Gül Baba with Gül Mehmet Dede proposing that he had lived form the period of Fatih ıintil 1541, in the period of Kanunî, over 120 years. A genealogical belonging to the Veli Baba's dervish convent in the village of  İlegüp of Isparta's Uluborlu county, has cleared up the actual identification of Gül baba. According to this genealogical tree, Gül Baba's real name is Cafer who is also known as Gül Dede. His father named Kutb’ül Arifin Veli’üddin İbn Yalınkılıç was from the village of  İlegüp. Gül Baba went to the Budin War on Kanunî Sultan Süleyman's invitation. In the Ottoman period, when the army went to the war, dervishes and minstrels also accvmpanied them to boost their morale; when the army was resting, it was time for prayers and epics. Dervishes and minstrels used to arm themselves and join the war when necessary Gül Baba was one of the dervishes who joined the wars. Janissaries were fond of the dervishes of fhe Bektashi order since they regarded Hacı Bektaş Ueras their convent's chief.    

Gül Baba was martyred on 1 September 1541, during the conquest of Budin (Buda), his luneral prayer was on 2 September 1541, at the Gathedral of Mâtyâs (Meryem Ana) that had been converCed into Fethiye Mosque and today he  was laid to rest in the hill named Gültepe-Rózsadomp. There are some sources that indicates his date of martyrdom as 2 September 1541.

According to the registrations of the city of Isparta, the nickname of Gül Baba's brother, Seyyid Hüseyin, was Sümbül Dede. There are hand-written works named Miftah ül Gayb and Güldeste containing the poems and proses of Gül Baba written by him in Hurûfi style using his second name.

There are articles of Hungarian researchers regarding Gül Baba, about whom, Kanunî Sultan Süleyman had said Gül Baba should be ready to serve as the watchman of Budin". According to famous Turkologist Dr. Ignacz Kúnos, since there had been no hair on his head, the name of  Gül Baba (Rose Father) should be read as "Kel Baba" (Bald Father). Another Hungarian Turkologist Gyula Nemeth has claimed that the word “gül” is the command form of the verb “gülmek” (to laugh; to, be pleased) and tried to expound the nickname Gül Baba by means ol this vreb. As for the German Thedor Menzel, he was given the Gül Baba nickname since he used to carry a rose, which is a sign of being a sheik of o Bektashi lodge, attached to his crown.

The lifestory of Gül Baba, who is beloved by both the Turks in Hungary and the Hungarians, was written out by Danish Andersen in 1841. Hungarian composer J.Huszka composed a symphonic work named "Gül Baba". Gül Baba has taken part in Nungarian literature, cinema and operetta art, as well.