TOWER OF SKULLS

Be careful, it is not suitable for young people. The Skull Tower, a unique place in the world, is the emblematic monument of the city, which should not be missed under any pretext! A small chapel was built in 1938 to protect what remains of the Skull Tower. On May 31, 1809, the voivode Stevan Sinđelić, leading 3,000 Serbian soldiers, lost a crucial battle against 10,000 Turks. While all over Serbia, uprisings against the Ottomans were gradually liberating the country, Niš would see its occupation extended for 68 years. As a warning and revenge, the sultan ordered his lieutenants to build a tower with the heads of Serbian soldiers and to place at the very top, last, that of the Serbian commander Stefan Sinđelić. On the spot, 952 skulls are thus stacked and ostensibly arranged in tiers, forming a tower several meters high. In Serbian history, the voivode Sinđelić became a hero of the resistance against the Turks, and the site of the Čegra, where the battle took place, was listed as a historical monument in 1983. During his visit to the country in 1824, Lamartine affixed a plaque at the bottom of the Skull Tower in honor of the fighters who died for their homeland, where it reads, "May the Serbs preserve this monument! It will teach children in future times what the price of freedom was for their ancestors and will serve as a constant reminder of the value of this struggle An unmissable stop during a visit to Niš!