Skull Tower – Ćele Kula

This unique monument appeared as the result of First Serbian Uprising against Ottoman Empire’s rule after the Čegar hill battle in 1809. The battle is recorded in this way: 3000 of Serbs lead by Stevan Sinđelić were defending their position on Čegar hill near Niš. When Stevan Sinđelić understood they never could win prevailing army he shots into powder storage and blows up both Serbs and Turks. When Turkish leader Hurshid Pasha finally forced the hill he found out that 2-3 times more Turks had died in the explosion, so he ordered to cut heads of dead Serbs, excoriate skin, fill it with cotton and then send to Constantinople, and use skulls for building the Tower.

This frightful monument was built near the road to Constantinople as a reminder for rebels against Ottoman power. Second half of 19th century notes describe the Tower as a quadrangle 4,5m high, 4m face, every face having 46 rows, every row consisting of 17 skulls equaling to 952 skulls. After some years many skulls disappeared or were destroyed, nowadays only 56 skulls are left.

In 1938, a chapel was built over the Tower in order to defend it from further destruction. The same year in front of the chapel a bust of Stevan Sinđelić was unveiled along with a bronze plate with Lamartin’s, famous poet, words written: “May the Serbs keep this monument! It will always teach their children the value of the independence of a people, showing them the real price their fathers had to pay for it.”