In the centre of the town of Kula you will find the spectacular remains of a 16-metre circular tower. It belongs to the Castra Martis castle, built in the 3rd century, to secure the border after the Roman withdrawal from the lands north of the river. The fortification was reinforced under Justinian I, but was completely abandoned after the ruinous Avar invasion of 586.
Austrian-Hungarian historian Felix Kanitz who visited Kula in the 19th century has left two engravings (below) that document the structure and its surroundings. According to him, the Roman ruin was almost demolished when the local Ottoman authorities decided to modernise the town. The structure was saved because it was on the property of particularly stubborn Turk who refused to have his house (also depicted on one of the engravings) to be torn down
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