Dragoljevac, a Serb village near Istok, in Kosovo-Metohija, was known until 1999 for its towers – tall thick stone wall structures from the Ottoman period.

However, after the expulsion of Serbs from those regions, Kosovo Albanians tore down all the towers. Incidentally, houses for returnees are being built on their foundations.

Even since the Ottoman period, the towers were the landmark of the village of Dragoljevac in Metohija and offered security to all the locals. There were some twenty of them in the summer of 1999 and some of them were 200 years old. Now they exist only in the memory of the villages. All of them were torn down and even the stones were removed. Only some remnants of the Rajčić tower wall remained.

According to Zoran Rajčić, a local Serbs, the towers were torn down and destroyed with the use of machinery, in order that all the traces of their existence be obliterated. He would like to have the remaining wall, situated in his estate, preserved as a testimony. In the vicinity of the former spacious tower, he is having a small house built, hoping to move into the new home before winter. After that, he is planning to renew agricultural production on the estate.

Some Serb families have returned to Dragoljevac in early spring. Most of them are still living in tents, as their homes have been reduced to rubble and the renovation of old houses and the building of new houses have been delayed. All of them hope to move into their new homes before the first snow.