Klišević The Tower of Kulenović-beys
Kule (the towers) are fortified buildings with defensive and housing features. They were mostly built at the period of Ottoman rule by feudal lords and military captains. Usually they were built in hewn stone, have several floors and a ground plan in shape of a square. A tower was usually surrounded by a yard encircled with a wall with several smaller buildings within. Often such constructions were nuclei of later towns. The tower roofs were often constructed as a four-sided pyramid. On the ground floor of the captain’s towers there were often prison cells (hapsana).
Kliševića-kula (Kliševića-tower) was erected, according to reliable historical sources, between the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and the Peace treaty of Karlovac in 1699. The tower belonged the old bey (bey – turkish dignitary) family of Kulenović which had possessed the lands in this area, and moved here after the Peace treaty of Karlovac. One branch of the family was also named Kulenović-Klišević. That the tower beside its dwelling function was of defensive significance is obvious if you observe narrow windows and loop holes on the ground floor which was also used as a prison block. The tower consisted of four floors joined with inter-floor constructions, and was built of high quality limestone, with window and door frames built of the Una river sinter.
Kliševića kula was built as a part of fortified defensive line which consisted of fortifications in Bihać, Sokolac, Orašac, Ostrovica. In the background, behind Kličevića and Orašac fortifications, a few kilometres to the east, there were Vrnograč and Prkosi towers, which are considered to be built at the same time.
Halil-bey Kulenović, a son of Mahmut-pasha, was the first proprietor of the Kliševića tower. The last one was Malić-bey Kulenović. A part of the tower collapsed in 1918, and the whole settlement with the tower were burnt to the ground and destroyed in 1941. When it was abandoned by it last inhabitants.