The Battle of Čegar which took place at the beginning of the 19th century on the hill of the same name is immortalized in a monument found near the city of Niš, which still reminds us on this precedent in Serbian history. This monument is the famous Ćele kula (Skull Tower) built of 952 sculls of Serbian soldiers who died there
Not far from the city center of Niš, by the road that once was called Constantinopolitan road, lies a monument in memory of the Battle of Čegar.
It wouldn’t be anything special, because almost every battle in this region got its monument and its heroes were remembered for future generations.
However, this monument is unique in the world for its history and bone-chilling appearance – it is the Ćele kula (Skull Tower) and it was built of skulls of Serbian soldiers who died in the Battle of Čegar!
To liberate the city of Niš meant to have free passage to Kosovo and “old Serbia”. That was the reason why 16,000 Serbian rebels were sent here.
They dug six deep trenches while the biggest one was at Čegar hill. Duke Stevan Sinđelić was leading this army.
No one could ever assume that a trench would have become so important for the war history in Serbia, nor that one bullet would turn this place into a legend. On May 31st, 1804 much more numerous and superior Turkish army launched the attack.
According to the testimonies of eyewitnesses, the battle lasted the whole day as Serbs managed to fight off the attacks. At the moment when Turks pushed the Serbian army back and entered the trench, Stevan Sinđelić saw that he was left alone and that he wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.
Than he did something unimaginable – he shot the bullet into powder magazine and blew up the entire trench taking to death everyone found in and around the trench. The battle ended there, but the price of victory was too big – Stevan Sinđelić and all his men were killed in the explosion. The final outcome was on the Serbian side – for every killed Serbian soldier, four Turkish soldiers died.
Not long after the battle, Turks built the Skull Tower as a warning, at the entrance to the city of Niš. 952 skulls of killed Serbian soldiers were built into the Tower. Ironically, the Tower became the symbol of the fight for independence. Decades later, now in liberated Serbia, a chapel that still treasures the remaining 58 skulls was built near the Tower. This monument, unique in the world, won’t leave anyone indifferent.
The French poet and academician Alphonse de Lamartine visited this monument returning from Constantinople. He wrote: “My sight and hearth greeted the remains of these brave people, whose heads became stone – the foundations of their country’s independence… Let Serbs treasure this monument! It will teach their children the worth of independence of one nation, showing them the price they fathers had paid.”
Today there is a tower monument and a bust of Stevan Sinđelić – man who became a symbol of resistance and freedom that has no price, were built on the hill were the battle was fought.
The battle on a hill rising above the city of Niš represented the important moment in Serbian history of liberation wars from Turkish rule. At that time, great European forces were fighting their wars – Napoleon’s France, Austria, Turkey, Russia…
Serbia was looking for its place among these military giants. Relying on overall situation in Europe, Djordje Petrović Karadjordje raised the uprising in 1804. The Battle of Čegar was one of the battles from this uprising and it took place in 1809.
