Ajándék Cave

Ajándék Cave is one of the highly protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in the Csévi ridges of the Pilis Mountains. It is the seventh deepest cave in Hungary. It is the deepest and second longest cave in the Pilis Mountains after the Ariadne cave system.

Description

It is in the outskirts of Pilisszentlélek. It is the highest opening cave of the Csévi ridges. Its barely noticeable entrance is about 100 m higher than the entrance of the Juventusz cave. It opens at an altitude of 596 m above sea level. Tourist maps also indicate the location of the cave.

Its length is 2720 m and its vertical extent is 181.2 m (180 m deep and 1.2 m high). The cave formed in Upper Triassic Dachstein limestone by dissolution below the karst water level. Among the dripstone cave chambers of the Pilis Mountains, the chambers of Ajándék Cave are the richest in dripstones. The sealed cave can be visited with the permission of the Danube–Ipoly National Park Directorate. It is still being researched.

In the literature it also occurs under the names Ajándék cave (Lendvay 1973) and Feri ajándéka-cave (Lorberer 1973). The cave was first named after its discoverer Ferenc Urbanics. In 1976 the cave was first called Ajándék Cave in the literature.

Research history

The attention of the Budapest X District Nature Lovers SK tourists and individual researchers of the Hungarian Karst and Cave Research Society was drawn to the cave in 1968 by Ferenc Urbanics, a resident of Piliscsév, but judging from the ammunition and crossbow bolts found in it, it was also known during the war. The first written information about the cave was published in 1973 and it received a name at that time. According to the description it is about 12 m long and about 5 m deep. In the three chambers and dome rooms of the cave, dripstones, pea stones, wulfenite crystals and mountain milk were observed. In 1973 the Kőbánya Cave Research and Mountaineering Department began to explore it. The 1973 report of the Fényes Elek Cave Research Department mentions that the exploration of Ajándék Cave on Pilis Mountain was carried out under the leadership of József Dévay. Ferenc Urbanics drew attention to the cave. At the moment further progress is blocked by a large rockfall. The cave is 12 m long.

In the book *Pilis Guidebook* published in 1974, in the list of caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20), it is mentioned that there is the Ajándék Cave among the caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains. According to the section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains, the entrance of the spacious Ajádék Cave is about 100 m higher than the Juventusz Cave. Most likely the old cartridge cases found in the cave are traces left by soldiers who hid there during the war. In 1976 the Budapest Sports Association had a research permit for exploring the cave. In the manuscript titled *Cave Register of Hungary* completed in 1976 it is stated that the Feri's Gift Cave (Feri ajándéka-barlang) is located in the Pilis Mountains, in the Pilis range. Its entrance is located 40° east of north, 3 km from the settlement, at an elevation of about 600 m above sea level, 500 m from the summit of the Csévi ridges, 17° east of north, about 100 m above the Juventusz Cave. It is a cold and partly water‑filled karst cave. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on one literary work.

Until 1981 the speleology team of the mining department conducted investigations. During this period about 20 m of the cave became known, and large quantities of rock debris were removed from it. In the book *Caves of Hungary* published in 1984, in the national cave list, the cave is listed among the caves of the Pilis Mountains under the name Ajándék Cave with the variant name Feri's Gift Cave. Associated with the list is a 1:500 000 scale map showing the geographical location of the caves of the Dunazug Mountains, indicating the location of the cave. In the compilation by József Kárpát published in 1991 it is mentioned that the Ajándék Cave (Piliscsév) is 8 m long and of unknown depth. Since 1997 the Ajaccio Karst and Cave Exploration Association has been studying the cave.

The 1998 report of the Ariadne Karst and Cave Exploration Association mentions that the association applied for a research permit to explore the Gift Cave opening on the Csévi strata. The association members began exploratory research in the cave, where under difficult conditions they were able to advance 10 m forward. It increasingly appears likely that the system known on the Csévi strata once formed a connected passage network that was fragmented before the Pleistocene. The passages were formed in the phreatic zone, and the ceiling level of the large cave zone can be about 450–470 m. A higher zone is indicated by the Gift Cave opening at 620 m, and the ceiling zone is represented by the Gyula-pihenője Cave, which has a similar form, located at 710 m. Considering that the polje known on the northern side of the Csévi strata points to an opening fault approached by the Leány Cave passages, it no longer seems utopian that Hungary’s deepest cave system is located here (it only needs to be uncovered).

The 2000 Karst Development mentions that the Gift Cave opens at a 600 m a.s.l. level, alongside a few smaller voids, and contains a limestone slab block, therefore traces of a former water level can be identified here. The study includes a figure showing the geographic locations of several caves and freshwater limestone occurrences in the Pilis Mountains. The figure shows the vertical extent of the Gift Cave (named Gift on the drawing) and the altitude at which it is situated. In 2003, it was closed due to the protection of many stalactites. Air‑pressure‑based investigation (gas injection followed by sampling) demonstrated that the Gift Cave is the upper entrance of the Ariadne cave system.