Skull Tower

A remaining wall (photo courtesy of freesrpska.org).]]

The Skull Tower (Cele Kula; the Castle of Cegar), situated near Nis is a unique monument in the world. It was built by the Turks into which they set skulls of the Serb commander Stevan Sindjelic and his men, with the intention of frightening the Serb population.

At the end of the summer 1809, after the battle on Cegar Hill, the skulls of the killed Serbian soldiers were built into the tower, on the way to Constantinople. This was done by order of the Turkish pasha Hurshid , the Turkish commander of the town of Nis at that time. Rectangular in its base, 3 meters high, the Skull Tower was built with 952 skulls. The message it was intended to convey was: all Serbs who decide to stand in the way of Ottoman Empire's interests will have premature deaths, like the Serbs of Cegar.