Skull Tower and Constantine's villa

Our first stop this morning was the gruesome Skull Tower in Nis. This is a stone structure embedded with human skulls. It was constructed by the Ottoman Empire following the Battle of Čegar of May 1809, during the First Serbian Uprising. During the battle, Serbian rebels under the command of Stevan Sinđelić were surrounded 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 subordinates and the encroaching Ottoman soldiers. The governor ordered that a tower be made from the skulls of the fallen rebels. The tower is 4.5 metres high, and originally contained 952 skulls embedded on four sides in 14 rows.
Across the road from the tower we visited the Roman remains of Constantine's villa of Mediana. This includes several buildings, a central residential complex consisting of the villa, spacious courtyards and ceremonial entrance. The buildings were built and used during the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337) and his sons.Read more