Skull Tower The Skull Tower ( , ) is a tower composed largely of human skull s located in the city of Niš , Serbia . During the 1809 Battle of Čegar , fought during the First Serbian Uprising , Serbian revolutionaries led by commander Stevan Sinđelić were attacked by Turkish forces on Čegar Hill , near Niš . Rather than have him and his men be caught by the Turks and executed by impalement , Sinđelić fired his pistol into a powder magazine , killing himself and all Serbian rebels and Turkish soldiers in the vicinity . Afterward , Hurshid Pasha , the Turkish Grand Vizier of Niš , ordered that a tower be made from the skulls of the killed Serbian revolutionaries . Once complete , the ten - foot high Skull Tower contained 952 Serbian skulls embedded on four sides in fourteen rows . After the Serbian re - capture of Niš in 1878 , the tower was roofed over , and in 1892 a chapel was built around it . 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 Cultural Monuments 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 , said to be that of Sinđelić , enclosed in a glass container . Considered a symbol of independence by ethnic Serbs , the tower has been mentioned in the writings of French Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine . 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 . During the time of the Ottoman Empire , Turkish forces were known to create tower structures from the skulls of their enemies in order to create terror amongst their opponents . The First Serbian Uprising against Ottoman rule erupted in 1804 , with Karađorđe Petrović as its leader . On 19 May 1809 , 3 , 000 Serbian revolutionaries led by commander ( ) 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 overran their positions . Not wishing for him and his men to be captured and killed by impalement , Sinđelić fired his pistol into his entrenchment ' s gun powder magazine . The resulting explosion killed him and all the Serb revolutionaries and Turkish soldiers in the vicinity . Construction . After the battle , 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 skulls were then returned to Niš , where the Turks built Skull Tower as a warning to future generations intending to revolt against the Ottoman Empire . The ten - foot high tower consisted of 952 Serbian skulls embedded 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 . In 1892 , a chapel designed by architect Dimitrije Leko was constructed over the tower with the help of donations from across Serbia . A plaque dedicated near the chapel in 1904 reads : " 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 Cultural Monuments of Exceptional Importance and came under the protection of the Socialist Republic of Serbia . Further renovation of the chapel occurred again in 1989 . , fifty - four skulls remain on the tower , with one , said to be that of Sinđelić , resting in a glass container . Significance and portrayal in Balkan culture . In the centuries following its construction , the tower has become a symbol of Serbian independence and a pilgrimage site 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 : In 1849 British traveler 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 . " An exhibition at the Military Museum in Belgrade contains a replica of the tower . Prior to the dissolution of Yugoslavia , tens of thousands of schoolchildren from across Yugoslavia visited the original in Niš .