1.

NIS CONCENTRATION CAMP

The concentration camp located in the district of Crveni Krst (Red Cross) is one of the few fully
preserved fascist camps in Europe. Even today, it provides authentic testimony to the perils of the
Serbian, Romani, and Jewish population, communists, numerous supporters of the liberation
movement and partisans, who were incarcerated here during the German occupation of Serbia
(1941-1945).
The camp complex occupies the surface area of 7 hectares and is surrounded by high barbed wire.
It contains two central camp buildings, two supplementary one-storey buildings, two towers, two
observation posts, two guard boxes, and a drinking fountain. The central camp building consisted of
premises in which inmates lived, premises to house guards, hearing premises, a dispensary, a
barber's room, and ten rooms for solitary confinement, with concrete floors, no windows, and a small
slit on the top for light and ventilation. One of those rooms had no ventilation whatsoever.
The building was originally constructed in 1930 to be used as a part of the military barracks in the
Red Cross, but in the beginning of the war already, in 1941, it was secluded from the barracks by a
barbed wire and turned into a camp. During World War Two, about 30,000 people passed through
this camp, of whom over 10,000 were shot on nearby Bubanj hill.
Setting aside this camp from others is the fact that on 12 February 1942 there was a massive
escape of prisoners here. Out of 147 inmates who attempted to flee, 105 managed to escape, while
82 died along the way. After this successful escape, and another in December 1942, the camp
became a real venue of death.

2. THE SKULL TOWER

This monument, unique in the world, was built after the Battle of Cegar. In the words of a Serbian
hajji from Nis, the Turks prepared the construction of the tower made of skulls. When Hursid Pasha
of Nis realized that, even though the post at Cegar hill had been taken, the battle and the explosion
resulted in 3,000 dead Serbs and at least twice that many dead Turks, he ordered that the heads of
the Serb victims be collected, skinned, and that the skulls be built into the tower. The heads were
stuffed with cotton and sent to Constantinople.
This horrific monument was built along the road to Constantinople, as a warning to anyone rising
against the Ottoman Empire. A mid 19th century written document reads that the tower was
rectangular, 4.5 meters wide and 4 meters long, that on all four sides there was a total of 56 rows,
with 17 skulls in each row, totaling 952 skulls. In time most skulls were taken or missing, so that
today the tower has only 58 skulls.
In 1938 a chapel was built around the Skull Tower to preserve it from further decay.

3. Mediana
Mediana is a luxurious suburbia of Antique Naissus, built between III and the beginning of IV century.
During the rule of Constantine the Great (306-337.) Mediana experienced the most impressive
architectural progress.

At the beginning of IV century, overpopulated Naissus became less attractive for the rich citizens
and they moved to Mediana, adapting old and building new villas. The villas were elaborately
constructed and decorated with mosaics; courtyards and porches were decorated with fountains and
sculptures of deities. Mediana became a luxury suburbs with developed economy and agriculture.
The watertower that supplied Mediana with water was very complex and advanced for that time. Due
to lead pipes the water reached the faucets, the fountains, the pools and the baths, and its assumed
that there also existed an irrigation system for the fields and granaries. The second section of the
water-system brought the warm, mineral water from Niska Banja.
The fact that contributes to the Christian tradition of Naissus, Mediana and Constantines influence is
that in 2000. and 2007. at the site of Mediana, there were discovered the remains of 2 churches from
IV century. Especially interesting are the remains of the single nave church, with the mosaic of
Christs monogram at its center.
Mediana was a temporary residence of 6 Roman emperors after Constantines rule on their journey
towards the East.

THE FORTRESS
Nis Fortress is located in the core of the city, on the bank of the Nisava river. It is
one of the best preserved and most beautiful medieval fortresses in central Balkans.
It was pulled down and restored a number of times, by the Romans, over the
Byzantines, Slavs, Bulgarians, and Serbs. Its assumed its final shape in 1723, when
the Turks built it, facing the end of their reign in this area. Its construction required
that over 40 stonecutters from Constantinople and around 400 bricklayers from Nis
and around be hired. The stone was brought over from the nearby villages, and,
toward the end of the construction there was a lot of hurry to secure this
strategically important spot, so that anything suitable from within the Fortress was
used as construction material: tombstones, columns and numerous architectural
elements of the earlier Roman and Byzantine fortifications.
The Fortress covers 22 hectares, its walls are 2,100 meters long, 8 meters high,
and, on average, 3 meters wide. From the outside, the Fortress was surrounded by a
water-filled ditch, whose northern part remains visible today. Apart from the well
preserved stone walls and gates, the Fortress exhibits numerous remains from the
turbulent history of Nis.

THE FILM FESTIVAL

The Film Festival a Festival of Serbian Actors (late August) since 1966, every
summer Nis has symbolically given the keys to the city to actors and become a city
of actors. Organized in the open air of Nis Fortress Amphitheatre, the festival has
always attracted a lot of attention.

One of the oldest remains is the collection of tombstones (Lapidarium, 1st-4th

centuries). The collection is located across the Historical Archives building and
contains 41 tombstones found in the Fortress, but also some originating from the
nearby towns of Jelasnica, Svrljig and Knjazevac.
Hamam, the gorgeous Turkish steam bath, is the oldest preserved facility from the
period of Ottoman reign in Nis and one of the rare fully preserved facilities of this
type in general. The bath was made near the Istanbul Gate in 1498, the endowment
of Mehmet Bey. Made of brick and stone as a single room Turkish bath, it was
intended only for men or only for women. The water was conducted from the Nisava
by means of a wooden windlass. From there it moved on through clay pipes to the
tank in the hamam, where it was filtered and partly heated.
The Arsenal, a weapons and ammunition depot, was used for the storage, repair
and manufacture of military materials. From to the Turkish inscription on the plate
next to the entrance we know that the arsenal was built in 1857 during the reign of
Sultan Abdul Mejid. Since its restoration in 1972, this building has been used as an
art gallery, and souvenir shop.
Bali-Bey Mosque is located in the central part of the Fortress, to the right of the
main path from the entrance. It was first mentioned in the Turkish inventory of
1521-1523, when it was probably made. It was listed as a masjid (a small Turkish
shrine without a minaret). The mosque was the endowment of Bali-Bey from Edirne,
a high ranking Turkish civil servant. In 1868, Nis Pasha Abdurrahman placed the
Turkish library in it, by adding two separate rooms along the north wall, where now
the main entrance is standing. The facility is today used as the Salon 77 art
gallery.

Nisville, International Jazz Festiva (15-18.8.2012.)

Niville has become the leading and most visited jazz festival in SouthEastern
Europe with a total visit of 100,000 people for 4-days festival. Niville concept from
the beginning, except the "traditional" forms of jazz, was based on the fusion of this
stream with the ethnic traditions of various parts of the world, particulary the
Balkans.
Powder Magazines are military facilities used for the storage of gunpowder and
ammunition. Five remain preserved, 4 located along the northern rampart, while
another small one is situated in the eastern part of the Fortress. The rectangular
space within is surrounded by a massive wall, over one meter thick, and it was used
for storing powder and ammunition. The narrow hall surrounding it was occupied by
soldiers in case of an attack. They could use 12 narrow slits in the walls (loop holes)
to shoot and defend the city. The powder magazines were constructed after 1723,
when the building of the Fortress was fully finished. They are the only facility of this
kind preserved in Serbia.

Prince Milan Obrenovic and Nis Liberators Monument (1878) is located to the
left of the main entrance, on a lot surrounded by chained columns. On the top of
these columns, there are metal balls which were used as cannon balls during the
liberation of Nis. This monument - a rifle bullet was made by an Italian craftsman
Vicenco Kaliterna (the creator of famous Nis drinking fountain in Cair) 1902, on the
25th anniversary of the liberation of Nis from the Turks and the first anniversary of
Prince Milan Obrenovic's death.
The prison is preserved in the eastern part of the Fortress, where administrative
and military buildings were located. The prison was made in the early 18th century
and also had torture chambers. After the liberation from the Turks, the building was
used in the same purpose.
The Historical Archives Building, located in the northwestern part of the
Fortress, is the only military facility there made after the liberation from the Turks
(in 1890). During the war, the building was used in various purposes: the
Cartographic Section of the Serbian Army, the Noncommissioned Officers' School of
Artillery, the Bulgarian prison in World War One. In 1959 it was proclaimed a cultural
monument and has been used as a Historical Archives building since. The quantity
and importance of the material preserved there makes it the second such institution
in Serbia, second only to the Belgrade Archives.
Christogram
A Christogram is a monogram or combination of Greek letters chi (x)and rho (P) that forms an
abbreviation (shortcut) for the name of Jesus Christ. Build for celebration of 1700 years
since Edict of Milan. The Edict of Milan gave Christianity a legal status, but did not make
Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

THE MONUMENT TO LIBERATORS OF NIS AT KING

MILAN SQUARE
The monument dedicated to the liberators is located at the central location of the
city, King Milan Square. It presents the period of wars for liberation waged against
the Turks, Bulgarians, and Germans. The monument contains inscriptions on the
four most significant years of this period: 1874 and 1877 the period of the fight for
liberation from the Turks, and 1915 and 1918 the beginning of the occupation and
the liberation of the city in World War One. The monument is made of black marble
and has a broad base with four reliefs, a bronze sculpture and a high pedestal
whose lower part exhibits figural compositions of soldiers fighting. At the top of the
monument there is a natural size horse rider the Herald of Liberty, holding a flag.
The monument was presented to the public on 28 June 1937, on the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of Nis from the Turks. This monumental sculpture is one
of the most significant creations of more modern Yugoslav art, made by the well

known sculptor from Zagreb, Croatia, Antun Augustincic. In 1983 it became

protected by the law as part of the national heritage.

4. King Aleksandar monument

The original monument presenting King Aleksandar on a horse, made by the Belgrade sculptor Rade
Stankovic in 1939, was removed and destroyed in the first years after the rise of communists to
power, in 1946. In order to rectify the injustice to this important historical figure, in 2004, the citizens
of Nis put up a new monument of Aleksandar. Made by the Belgrade sculptor Zoran Ivanovic, it is
11.5 meters high and weighs over 3 tons. King Aleksandar is remembered for being the first to
proclaim the unity of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918. He was assassinated in Marseilles in
1934.

5. THE MONUMENT OF STEVAN SREMAC AND KALCA

The Monument of the writer Stevan Sremac and the hero from his book Ivkova slava (Ivko's Saint's
Day) Kalca, is placed at the beginning of the Tinkers Alley, once a famous craftsmen street of the city
of Nis. The famous Serbian writer Stevan Sremac lived in this city from 1879 to 1892 and left an
important trace in its culture. The bronze sculpture which depicts Kalca, a Nis hunter, with its loyal
dog and the writer Stevan Sremac is the work of art of the academic sculptor Ivan Felker.