Tourbes Musa Baba

In one of the most "lively" squares of Thessaloniki, where visitors can rest while touring the Upper Town and admire the wonderful view that characterizes the entire area, the 16th-century Muslim monument stands out at one end of the restored and in all its architectural splendor. The square of Terpsitheas hosts the octagonal, vaulted building, which was built as a burial monument (turbes) for Musa Baba, which gave it the name it retains today.

The square itself was once the courtyard of a beggar. The Bektaşi dervishes of the adjacent monastery rested and gazed at the sea from above during breaks from their spiritual work. The mausoleum was built there for Musa Baba, who was buried there and is a saint for the Ottomans, although his bones were moved to Turkey in 1923. The building had various uses over the last century, until its reconstruction a few years ago which restored its appearance and character. Musa Baba was a servant of a local aga and, thanks to a story involving a portion of delicious halva that was sent from Thessaloniki to Mecca as a miracle through his intervention, he was canonized by the Ottomans. The wind “playing” on the cobblestones and the buildings of the Upper Town also created the myth that you can still hear the galloping of his horse around the turbe, in Terpsithea Square.