1 Day in Nis Trip: Budgets, Hotels, Food & Attractions

Day 1

Skull Tower

Opening Hours: Open on Tue-Fri,10:00am-4:00pm;Open on Sat-Sun,10:00am-3:00pm

Ticket Price: 200 RSD

Recommended Length of Stay: 30-1 Hours

Location: Bulevar Dr Zorana Djindjica, Nis, Serbia

In 1809, before the defeat of the Battle of Cegar, the Duke of Resava launched an attack on the Turkish side and fired directly at the Turkish warehouse, causing more than 4,000 of his own and more than 10,000 Turkish casualties. The Turks were victorious nonetheless, beheading and scalping the Serbs and embedding them in the tower. There were originally 952 skulls, but now only 58 remain, and the tower has become a testament to the bravery of the Serbs.Skull Tower (Serbian: Ћеле Кула; Ćele kula, pronounced [tɕel̩e kula]) is a stone structure embedded with human skulls located in Niš, Serbia. It was constructed following the Battle of Čegar of May 1809, during the First Serbian Uprising. Serbian rebels under the command of Stevan Sinđelić were attacked by the Ottomans on Čegar Hill, near Niš. Knowing that he and his fighters would be impaled if captured, Sinđelić detonated a powder magazine within the rebel entrenchment, killing himself, his fellow rebels and the encroaching Ottoman soldiers. Vizier Hurshid Pasha ordered that a tower be made from the skulls of the fallen rebels. The tower is 4.5 metres (15 ft) high, and originally contained 952 skulls embedded on four sides in 14 rows.

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