The Grisly Skull Tower in Niš.
The Grisly Skull Tower in Niš.
December 2023.
So how about that time Sladja and I went on a Christmas Eve walk to see an historic stone structure embedded with human skulls? Ho, ho, ho, etc. It was a crisp morning in the Serbian city of Niš as we set off on a walking route to visit one of the city’s grisliest sites.
Located on the outskirts of the city centre, it took us around forty minutes to reach our destination. Along the way, we found our attention drawn to a pair of curious murals celebrating the lives of two notable Nišians (I just made that word up, not sure if it’s a thing).
The Skull Tower in Niš.
The first depicts one of Serbia’s most celebrated boxers, Dragiša Stanković Čelik. As a sportsman he was an absolute powerhouse, winning 512 of his 520 career fights. Famously, he once refused to take a bribe for a fight in Germany and proceeded to win the bout by knockout. Ballsy.
Dragiša Stanković Čelik. On the way to the Skull Tower in Niš.
However, it was his patriotism and kindheartedness that ultimately won Stanković a place in the hearts of many Serbians. After retiring from boxing, he launched his own brand of coffee and a number of successful restaurants. During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia he donated over 30 tonnes of coffee to the army and even gave his pension back to the state.
Dragisa “Steel” Stanković in his prime.
Moreover, he became known as one of Serbia’s luckiest men after twice winning the top prize in the national lottery. A keen gambler, he also scooped no less than 14 large payouts from sports bets. He passed away in Niš in 2015 aged 75 following a stroke.
A Serbian Legend.
Dragisa Stanković (1939-2015).
The other mural remembers the service of Miodrag Lazić, a decorated war surgeon. He rose to fame in the early 1990s after volunteering to treat soldiers wounded in The Croatian War of Independence.
Doctor Miodrag Lazić. On the way to the Skull Tower in Niš.
By the spring of 2020 Lazić was just a few months shy of retirement at the age of 64. But against his wife and doctor’s wishes, he insisted on treating COVID-19 patients in a hospital ward in Niš.
He did this despite the fact that in the past he’d suffered from bronchitis, obstructive pulmonary disease and high sugar levels. Sadly, he quickly contracted COVID and passed away on April the 20th shortly after penning a heartbreaking farewell letter.
Dr. Miodrag Lazić (1955-2020).
No wonder we were in a reflective mood as we arrived at the Skull Tower (Ćele Kula) ticket office. The woman behind the counter accepted our cash (just under $6) and pointed us toward the gate and garden path that lead to the tower.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
Skull Tower ticket office.
The Skull Tower enjoys a discreet location inside a pretty, church-like structure. The Ottomans built the tower after the dramatic events of The Battle of Čegar on the 31st of May 1809. Taking place on land near Niš Fortress, Serbian revolutionaries found themselves heavily outnumbered by their Ottoman aggressors.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
In the face of an inevitable defeat, Serbian Commander Stevan Sinđelić decided to take drastic action.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
In fact, with hordes of soldiers pouring into his trench, he quickly aimed his pistol at a stockpile of gunpowder. Then shot into it at just the perfect moment, killing himself and hundreds of people on both sides.
Stevan Sinđelić in his final moments by the painter Pavle Čortanović.
When Turkish general Hurshid Pasha heard the news he was furious. In order to send a message to the Serbs, he instructed his soldiers to round up all the enemies who had died in the blast.
A sculpted skull above the entrance door to the tower.
Stripping their heads of any remaining flesh and hair, the skulls were stacked into building blocks for a grisly tower placed at the entrance of the city. A message, if you will, that this is the fate that awaits anyone else who fancied themselves a rebel.
Ćele Kula.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
There was certainly a creepy feeling in the air that day as we entered the silent tower and came face to face with the skulls. Apparently over 950 went into the structure when it was made. Over the centuries that have since passed the vast majority have broken off or dissolved. As a result, just 58 remain on display today.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
Historians also believe that family members succeeded in dislodging skulls of their loved ones so that they could give them proper burials. Today you can see plenty of empty head-shaped spaces where those skulls used to be.
Ćele Kula.
As the orchestrator of the blast, Stevan Sinđelić’s skull sat on top of the tower when it was first unveiled. Now it resides in a glass case to the side of the structure.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
An accompanying text describes Sinđelić as a brave national hero who “chose an honourable death over slavery”.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
There is also a weathered statue of Sinđelić outside in the garden. It seems to be popular with the local birds.
Stevan Sinđelić (1771-1809).
The Turk’s intention to scare off any more would-be rebels failed miserably. The next large scale rebellion came in 1815 during which the Serbs succeeded in driving the Turks out. This led to the eventual independence of Serbia in 1830 when the Ottomans finally granted them full autonomy. The congress of Berlin later recognised the independence formally in 1878.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
In 1833 a special visitor came to visit the tower. His name was Alphonse de Lamartine, a renowned French romantic poet, writer and statesman. “My eyes and heart greeted the remains of those brave men whose cut off heads made the cornerstone of their homeland’s independence” he exclaimed in a written account of the visit.
Alphonse de Lamartine: Doesn’t look very impressed by my article.
“May the Serbs keep this monument!” he continued. “It will always teach their children the value of their independence, showing them the real price their fathers had to pay for it”. According to several historians, Lamartine’s visit was largely responsible for international interest in the tower and the subsequent wave of visitors from abroad.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
A plaque in the chapel pays tribute to Lamartine’s visit and kind words.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
In 1894 local authorities constructed the small chapel that holds today’s restored tower. Declared a monument of exceptional cultural importance in 1948, the tower has been well looked after with numerous renovations. The latest of which came in 1989.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
It was time for us to move on. The Skull Tower had been yet another exceptional historic site in Niš. And we weren’t done yet, because next we’d be stopping by the remains of a grand villa once home to the Roman emperor Constantine The Great.
The Skull Tower in Niš.
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61 Comments
Great Leighton all those skulls cheered me up no end though maybe a good idea for a few Chelsea supporters
Nothing like some grimacing skulls to put the sun into Sunday eh Gary? Thanks for kicking off the comment thread.
Well, the tower certainly “lives” up to the hype. It’s one way to keep track of how you spend Christmas Eve. You’ll never get this one confused with just sitting by the fire with a cup of cheer. I find it interesting to speculate about the frame of mind of those who maintained the monument rather than the ones who built it. The world view that it projects is rather terrifying in its chosen isolation. I take this is a personal record for photos of skulls and not a single shot of Sladja. Glad you covered it though. I just hope you never top it.
Thanks Memo. I think you make a good point, I mean why didn’t the Serbs just destroy the thing. That said, it certainly is a unique way to pay tribute to those fallen soldiers, even if it was just one soldier who decided for everybody else. Yeah no photos of either us, not sure that would have been fitting or necessary by any justification. It is a strange site for sure and an even odder Christmas Eve experience.
A very…unconventional way of celebrating the Christmas holidays, haha. I’ve seen a fair share of skull-related sites throughout my travels and, morbid as they are, they are truly fascinating and worthwhile of a visit. The Skull Tower in Niš is no exception, and the history behind it is very interesting (“keeping tally” on the lives lost, that is). Thanks for sharing this unusual (and creepy) visit, Leighton!
Thanks Rebecca. Yep, an unusual Christmas Eve experience but at least a more topical post in the run up to Halloween. On Christmas Day we saw a genocide memorial and on Christmas Eve the skull tower. In my defence all I can say is that we honestly didn’t plan it like that, just sorta played out that way.
Oh, such an appropriate time of year to read about skull tower!?! Halloween month, and the streaming channels are all filled with ghouls and zombies! Thanks for sharing. Besides Scary movies, have you noticed how many Hollywood ring fighting movies exist? Your great boxing hero may deserve such treatment too. And what red blooded American does not like a good boxing movie?? 💪 Maybe they can pick up some Serbian history tidbits while they cheer on bloody face pummeling!!
Yeah I at least got the appropriateness of my posting time right compared to the day we chose to visit. I think a Dragiša Stanković Čelik biopic could work, maybe even as a comedy drama when you factor in his somewhat amusing post-boxing career. I’m picturing Stallone with perhaps Ben Stiller, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan as his sidekicks with highly questionable Serbian accents. Well, it works in my head at least. Cheers Chuckster!
Ha ha, it works in my head too. “In dee rring, you see, ees not about pow-wer. Ees about da heart, you know, like dee very smal potatoes in stew!”
Ha ha I’m digging it. I’ll channel an email off to the Farrelly brothers.
Yikers. There seems to be no depths too low for someone bent on “stamping their tiny foot revenge”. I think for those who died in defense of their country, it was an honour to be placed in that tower, so the revenge part backfired. Great story on Stanković and his good luck in the ring and lotto. Dr. Miodrag Lazić showed you do not need to be larger than life to be a hero, you just have to help your fellow man. A great post Leighton. Happy Sunday. Allan
You make a solid point about the perception of revenge in this regard. I’m glad you enjoyed the mural stories, we were delighted with what we turned up after doing some Googling. Cheers Allan, have a great Sunday with hopefully a fine hike along the way.
Grisly’s the word!
Glad I hit the right adjective. 😉
😎
Ho, ho, ho, etc had me laughing – it’s like the time we spent our 10 year wedding anniversary in a genocide museum! What a creepy place, though I think sites like this are always intriguing for their history – I’m looking forward to the Roman villa too 🙂
Thanks Han. Ahhh so we both have genocide site experiences on inappropriate days. Where was yours?
We spent one anniversary in Munich’s holocaust genocide documentation centre, my birthday in Cologne’s documentation centre, and our 10 year anniversary in a Bosnian genocide museum in Mostar. Romantic.
Ha! So how about this? I spent part of my stag weekend in that same documentation centre in Cologne!
That made me laugh, even more brilliant your friends were happy to go with you 😂
Oh and my husband’s birthday in a concentration camp!!
Crikey, you guys are dedicated.
Dragiša Stanković Čelik and Doctor Miodrag Lazić were amazing people. The Skull Tower has a grisly but interesting history. Your photos are amazing as usual.
Thanks Thomas! 🙂
Well, we all have our own preferred ways to spend the holidays! However, a nice walk is always a welcome treat. In Faro, Portugal, there is a chapel made bones and skulls; it’s quite creepy, but oddly intriguing too. However, this one seems to have an honorable history. Thanks, Leighton, for sharing this interesting bit of Serbian history!
Thank you Tricia, it’s a curious and indeed creepy spot but well worth a 20-minute stop on the way to the Roman ruins. 🙂
Well presented Leighton, a grisly and gruesome slice of Serbian history. As ever I am in awe of your ability to get into the stories of the things you see while travelling. I suspect many people might gaze up at these murals, think hm pretty, and move on none the wiser. It is phenomenal that part of the original tower complete with skulls remains largely intact.
Thanks James. It’s true that such murals are not always easy to fully appreciate in terms of the context. With these two I’m just delighted that they turned up such rich narratives. Yes, it is something of a miracle that the tower lives on after all these years.
What a fascinating city with unique histories. The boxer guy is an incredible character, what a hugely selfless, generous individual, surely the most worthy lottery winner ever. The history behind, and the presentation of, the skull tower is astounding too. Great reading. We were thinking about you guys over the last few days as news of the election in Georgia filtered through.
That’s very kind of you. This is such a delicate time for the country and indeed for our own long term future. On the one hand we have committed (a little) to the country with the potential of deepening that commitment in the future. But I guess we are going to have to play it carefully and monitor things for a while before laying down any further roots. I type this now in central Tbilisi where things are very calm. No protests, no sign whatsoever of any unrest. Let’s see how things play out.
I’m sure you’ll get it right but…take care.
Talk about luck! Dragiša Stanković Čelik’s name should actually appear next to the word “luck” in the dictionary … and because he was such a wonderful person! The Skull Tower is a grisly story … I wonder how it must have felt for the builders of that time to have to handle the skulls during the construction of the tower. Doesn’t sound like a job I would have enjoyed!
I hadn’t thought about that. Yes, not a fun job by any measure and one that probably took a long time to complete. I wouldn’t mind having just a shred of Mr. Stanković’s luck. You know, just the one lottery win would do for me. Cheers Corna!
I was thinking this was a timely Halloween post and then I saw the date ha! Not quite a holly jolly Christmas. The skull tower is definitely an interesting place to visit. I don’t think I’d want to work there, I’m sure spooky things happen.
I reckon a nighttime visit would crank up the creepiness levels, though I believe they always close by late afternoon. Sladja and I have made a pact that whatever is it we do this Christmas we’re gonna try and keep the tone as cheerful and festive as possible.
Well that’s a unique (and super creepy) thing to do on Christmas Eve! It’s too bad that so few skulls remain on the structure, but I get why families would want to retrieve them.
I wonder what those families who claimed their loved ones’ skulls did with them. Buried them somewhere close to home? Kept the skull somewhere? It’s such an unusual situation.
That is a gruesome site, leave it to the Turks. We visited the Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal. Monks and parishioners bones are plastered into the walls. It was quite upsetting to see, but at least we didn’t go on Christmas Eve!! Hope everything is OK for you two right now with the political climate. Maggie
I’ve just had a look at the Chapel of Bones and it seems far bigger than the one in Niš with way more skulls (and bones obviously) on display. It’s touching that several people have been thinking of us at this time. We have just returned to the Kutaisi area after an overnight stay in Tbilisi and were pleased to have missed the mass protest which has just begun this evening. We’ll be keeping an eye on things obviously, cheers Maggie.
This tower of skulls does indeed seem to belong with Halloween, but Lamartine’s brilliant lines remind us how tragic it all was.
Very much so, thanks for your comment. I wasn’t familiar with Lamartine prior to visiting the Skull Tower so it was interesting to read a little about his life too.
What an interesting place and record of the skulduggery of the past.
boomdey boom. Skulduggery indeed but such a special slice of history, make no bones about it.
Nice post 🌺🌺
Thanks.
Welcome dear friend 🌺🌺
This seems far more a place for a Halloween visit than a Christmas Eve visit, but since we are closer to Halloween it is perfectly timed! The history is interesting and very grisly. To see that wall and how many spaces there were for skulls is amazing. Although there is something sad in the idea that the skulls were broken off or dissolved over the years. But there’s also a tenderness about family members removing skulls from the wall. Very interesting (and spooky) read Leighton 🙂
Imagine one of our relatives or a good friend ended up in such a wall. I guess we would want it out of there as soon as possible right? First I had thought this a macabre move that didn’t bear consideration but actually I realise it’s just the only thing to do. Thanks for your considered comment as always Meg.
Creepy story and monument! There’s a place like this, with all body parts not just skulls, in Czechia (as it’s now called internationally). It doesn’t have the violent story – it’s in a monastery and composed with bodies from ancient tombs, Sedlec Ossuary.
Still having trouble signing in on your site, although I subscribe. Meant to sign it rkrontheroad.
It’s been interesting to learn about similar sites in Portugal and Czech Republic (can’t wrap my head around that new name just yet). Thanks for the catch up Ruth and sorry to hear about your sign in issues, all your comments are coming through clear under your rkontheroad account.
Incredible story and important part of the long struggle against Ottoman subjugation.
It certainly is, thanks for reading and commenting.
The skulls are incredibly eery. I think this place would have creeped me out no end.
Vert creepy indeed and as such we didn’t linger any longer than necessary. It definitely came as a relief to get back outside into daylight.
Well, nothing says festive like a walk to a skull tower. It’s fascinating, if a bit dark. The spaces where skulls were are actually as eerie as the ones still in place. As statement pieces go, it’s certainly original!
I agree about the empty spaces, they provide (an equally chilling) contrast to the skulls themselves. Thanks for reading Helen!
The tower’s history is quite horrifying, but I can understand the importance it gained over the years, although it must be a bit creepy to visit. I also loved learning about the two Serbian “legends”, especially Dragisa Stanković, who seemed like such an interesting person! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Juliette, it is a curious life story and cool to see that they have honoured his legacy with a street mural. Appreciate the read and comment!
Such an eerie monument! Can you imagine grief of a family member taking out a skull of their loved one to burry it? Heartbreaking. Your way of weaving in stories of two locals through the murals you encountered on the way to the Skull Tower is very engaging and clever. It brings to life this small outpost that most people are unlikely to visit.
Cheers Helena! Yes, even the thought of having to cut a father or son’s skull out of such a gruesome monument is almost unthinkable. I’m glad you enjoyed the stories of Dragiša Stanković Čelik and Doctor Miodrag Lazić.