The ancient tower, a significant cultural monument of the Serbian people, stands in the east of Niš. Although the country has 154 more historical monuments, only this one can deeply impress tourists with the incredible cruelty of the Ottoman leader and the tragic death of Serbian soldiers.

In 1809, during the First Serbian Uprising against the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks attacked the rebels on the Čegar Hill near the city of Niš. Despite the numerical superiority of the Ottoman soldiers, the bloody battle lasted all day. Realizing the inevitability of defeat and not wanting to be captured and impaled, Commander Stevan Sindelic (Sinđelić) ordered the brave Serbian soldiers to blow up the powder depot, thereby destroying both troops.

After the uprising was crushed, the brutal Ottoman commander-in-chief, Khurshid Pasha, decided to punish the Serbian people. He ordered the fallen soldiers to be beheaded and build a tower from their skulls stuffed with straw. The ominous structure was named Ćele kula (Skull Tower). It consisted of four walls 3.5 meters high, that were made of 14 rows of 952 human skulls. Back then, the tower was supposed to be a warning to the tributary race. Today, it is considered a symbol of courage and freedom.

The eerie tower stood in the open air for more than a hundred years. A significant part of the skulls was taken apart by the relatives who wanted to bury the victims. In 1892, Serbian citizens raised donations to surround the tower with a chapel by the famous architect Dimitrije T. Leko. Today, the tower consists of 54 skulls, including the one of the brave Serbian Commander Stevan Sindelic. It is kept in the chapel under glass.

These horrific events of the struggle for independence took place in a fairly developed country less than two hundred years ago. Historical monuments such as the Skull Tower makes one think about the price of our freedom paid by our ancestors.