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Skull Tower Ćele kula Ћеле Кула
A detail from a wall in the tower
Location	Niš, Serbia
Built	1809
Visitors	30,000–50,000 (in 2009)
Location of the Skull Tower in Serbia

The Skull Tower (Template:Lang-sr) is a tower composed of human skulls located in the city of Niš, Serbia. Made from the skulls of killed Serbian revolutionaries, it was constructed on the orders of Hurshid Pasha, the Turkish Grand Vizier of Niš, following the 1809 Battle of Čegar fought during the First Serbian Uprising. After the Serbian re-capture of Niš in 1878, the tower was roofed over and in 1892 a chapel was built around it. Considered a symbol of independence by ethnic Serbs, the tower has been mentioned in the writings of French Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine and English traveller Alexander W. Kinglake. In the two centuries following its construction, it has become a popular tourist attraction, visited by 30,000 to 50,000 people annually.

History

Background

The First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire erupted in 1804, with Karađorđe Petrović as its leader. On 19 May 1809, 3,000 Serbian revolutionaries led by commander (Template:Lang-sr) Stevan Sinđelić were attacked by a large Turkish force on Čegar Hill, located close to the city of Niš. Owing to a lack of coordination between Serb commanders, the revolutionaries failed to receive any support from other Serbian rebel detachments. Despite this, the numerically superior Turks lost thousands of troops in numerous attacks against the Serb positions. Eventually, the Serbian revolutionaries were overwhelmed and Turkish soldiers swarmed their trenches. Not wishing for him and his men to be captured and killed by impalement, Sinđelić fired his pistol into his entrenchment's powder magazine. The resulting explosion killed him and all the Serb revolutionaries and Turkish soldiers in the vicinity.

Construction

Afterwards, the Turkish Grand Vizier of Niš, Hurshid Pasha, ordered that the heads of Sinđelić and his men be skinned, stuffed and sent to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. The Turks then built the Skull Tower (Template:Lang-sr) as a warning to future generations intending to revolt against the Ottoman Empire. It consisted of 952 Serbian skulls imbedded on four sides in fourteen rows. In the ensuing years, many skulls fell out from the tower walls, some were taken away for burial by relatives thinking they could identify the skulls of their deceased family members, and some were taken by souvenir hunters. Following the Serbian re-capture of Niš from the Ottomans in 1878, the tower was roofed over to protect it from the elements and in 1892 a chapel was built around it. In 1904 a plaque was dedicated near the chapel, reading: "To the first Serbian liberators after Kosovo." In 1937, the chapel was renovated. A bust of Sinđelić was added the following year. In 1948, Skull Tower and the chapel enclosing it were declared Historic Landmarks of Exceptional Importance and came under the protection of the Socialist Republic of Serbia. Further renovation of the chapel occurred again in 1989. As of 2013, fifty-four skulls remain on the tower, with one resting in a glass case reputed to be that of Sinđelić himself.

Significance and portrayal in Balkan culture

In the centuries following its construction, the tower has become a symbol of Serbian independence and a place of pilgrimage for Serbs. It is considered one of the most visited places in Serbia, with 30,000–50,000 tourists visiting it annually. In the early 1830s, French Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine wrote of the tower upon visiting Niš, which was at the time still part of the Ottoman Empire, saying:

When I was about a league from the town, I saw a large tower rising in the midst of the plain, as white as Parian marble. I took the path which led to it, and having approached it... I sat down under the shade of the tower to enjoy a few moments' repose. No sooner was I seated than, raising my eyes to the monument, I discovered that the walls, which I supposed to be built of marble or white stone, were composed of regular rows of human skulls; these skulls bleached by the rain and sun, and cemented by a little sand and lime, formed entirely the triumphal arch which now sheltered me from the heat of the sun. In some places portions of hair were still hanging and waved, like lichen or moss, with every breath of wind. The mountain breeze, which was then blowing fresh, penetrated the innumerable cavities of the skulls, and sounded like mournful and plaintive sighs.

Afterwards, Lamartine declared: "This monument must remain! It will teach their children the value of independence of a people, showing them what price their fathers paid for it." In 1849 British traveller Alexander W. Kinglake described Skull Tower as the building that captivated him most in all of Ottoman Serbia, saying he was impressed by the "simple grandeur of the architect's conception" and that he was struck by the "exquisite beauty of the fretwork."

Prior to the dissolution of Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of schoolchildren from across Yugoslavia visited the tower. Even prior to the dissolution, it held such significance in Serbian national consciousness that Vox, an extremist Muslim magazine from Sarajevo, sought to provoke ethnic Serbs by publishing suggestions for a Skull Tower-inspired board game that called for players to "use talent, imagination, and architectural skills to show to the world what sort of builders the Turks were." The magazine went on to say: "You can play the game by yourself or with your Croatian friends. The idea is to place twenty (or more) Serbian heads in the tower, in alphabetical order as soon as possible."

Gallery

• An illustration from 1868
• The chapel enclosing the tower

See also

• Sedlec Ossuary
• Capela dos Ossos
• Capuchin Crypt
• Skull Chapel in Czermna

Notes

1. Judah 2002, p. 51. sfn error: no target: CITEREFJudah2002 (help)
2. ^ Morrison 1942, p. xxii.
3. ^ Judah 2002, p. 279. sfn error: no target: CITEREFJudah2002 (help)
4. Morrison 1942, p. xxiii.
5. ^ Judah 2002, p. 280. sfn error: no target: CITEREFJudah2002 (help)
6. ^ Babović & 14 July 2009.
7. Vankovska & Wiberg 2003, p. 228.
8. Longinović 2011, pp. 38–39.

References

Books

• Judah, Tim (2000). The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08507-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Longinović, Tomislav Z. (2011). Vampire Nation: Violence as Cultural Imaginary. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-82235-039-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Morrison, Walter Angus (1942). "The Revolt of the Serbs Against the Turks: 1804–1813". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-110-7-67606-0. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Vankovska, Biljana; Wiberg, Haken (2003). Between Past and Future: Civil-Military Relations in Post-Communist Balkan States. London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-624-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Websites

• Babović, S. (14 July 2009). "Ćele-kula za svetsku baštinu". Večernje novosti (in Serbo-Croatian).

External links

• Battle of Čegar, official website of the municipality of Niš

Template:Cultural Heritage of Serbia 43°18′42″N 21°55′26″E / 43.31167°N 21.92389°E / 43.31167; 21.92389

• Use dmy dates from July 2013
• First Serbian Uprising
• Buildings and structures in Niš
• Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance
• Serbian architecture
• Landmarks in Serbia