Pilgrimage tourism

The St. Marina monastery in Syanovo is an active monastery, but without monks. What is interesting about it is its healing spring, which is the only active one in the Dobrudzha region. The legend tells that in the area around the village of Syanovo there once were three monasteries, one of which was St. Marina’s. The fate of the monasteries is unclear, but it is widely believed that they were burned down by the Turkish when they enslaved the region, because there have been many findings in the area of stone tablets, human bones and mortar debris. In 1911 the water from the spring in the monastery near Syanovo flowed again, the spring was captured and Christian pilgrims started to come. In 1991 the monastery is restored, the spring – unveiled and open for the pilgrims. A chapel was built, along with a small building. Every year on the temple’s holiday (July 17th), many pilgrims come from the whole country.

Softa baba tekke is a Muslim religious building, located in Tutrakan. Sabri Husein was a Nakshbandi
Sheik, who lived from the end of XVIII century to the middle of the XIX century. The türbe is a temple for the Alevi community – a closed religious community, practicing an original set of mystical Sufism characteristic of Shiite Islam beliefs and pagan rituals, preserved from the time of Turkmen shamanism. The türbe is built around the middle of the 19th century on the terraced terrain and is an octagonal space with a hemispherical dome. The eight corners of the space pass into the dome, which ends with no top opening. The walls of the buildings are solid, built with stones and the windows – with iron bars. Different items have remained and have been preserved from Softa baba – costumes, horse gear, hatchet, armor, helmet and other metal, unfortunately many have been stolen in recent years. Followers of the local sect come to this place as well from the nearby villages and towns – Bisertsi, Madrevo, Sevar, Preslavtsi, Dulovo, as well as Tutrakan itself, also from abroad.

Today, different religions and temples coexist peacefully in the fishing area, such as the church St. Nicholas, which was built with donations from Tutrakan citizens and where the first memorial service was held for the victims of the battle for the Tutrakan fortress in 1916, as well as the first public prayer for the liberation of Dobrudzha in 1940, and the aforementioned Softa baba tekke.