Much of the day was spent walking through the city and to Ћеле Кула, a memorial of sorts. Nico and I found the site which was locked since the season for visitors had well past. Thankfully a lady that worked in the complex unlocked the main building for us to enter. We followed her up the path and waited whilst she reached for a Napoleonic era key.
This is the account given by Lamartine in 1833 when travelling through Niš and saw the memorial:
"I came to the plain near Niš. The sun was scorching. One mile before the city I saw a wide white tower rising in the midst of the plain, glittering as a Parish marble. The path led me to it. I came closer, sat down in its shade to take a rest and have some sleep. As soon as I sat down, I looked up towards the monument and saw that its walls, which has seemed to be as if made of marble or of a white stone, were made of human skulls, arranged in even layers. These skulls and these human faces, skinned off and whitened with rain and sun, glued with a bit of sand and lime, formed an arc that protected me from the sun. On some of them what little hair remained, was fluttering in the wind like a lichen or a moss.
Strong and fresh wind blowing from the mountain penetrated the many cavities in the heads, faces and skulls, making a sad whining sound. I was told that those were the skulls of the Serbs killed in the last uprising for the Freedom of Serbia."
The Ottomans constructed this Skull Tower after the first Serbian uprising. Under the command of Stevan Sinđelić the Serbs fought the Ottomans but were unsuccessful. Knowing they would be executed Sinđelić ordered the powder magazine within their own entrenchment to be detonated, taking their own lives along with the surrounding opposing force. Their bodies were decapitated and a tower was constructed from mortar and skulls. It is 4.5 metres high and originally contained 952 skulls. Today approximately 50 remain and a chapel has been constructed over the tower preserving it as a monument and symbol for Serbian independence.