Csempész Cave

Csempész Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the area of Aggtelek National Park. Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, the cave has been part of the World Heritage since 1995. It is one of the three specially protected caves of Szögliget.

Description

Four kilometres northeast of the centre of Szögliget, on the marble road leading from Szögliget to Körtvélyes, which is also a tourist route, not far from its left side, near the state border, 25–30 metres from it, west of the tip of the state border, near the border stone number 32.4, in a forest on a hillside, in a small funnel‑shaped hollow, opening in a rock climb. Where the state border runs along the road for a few metres and then separates again, the border strip must be followed westward. Some tourist maps mark its location with a cave symbol and the name. The entrance is easily noticeable, natural, one and a half metres wide, five metres high and fissure‑shaped. The axis of the entrance slopes.

The cave formed in middle Triassic and upper Triassic Wetterstein limestone. Its development is due to corrosion, inflowing water, seeping water and dissolution below the karst water level. It has a branching spatial form. Its passages are sloping. Typical cross‑section types are the fissure cross‑section and the tunnel cross‑section. Its horizontal extent is 30 metres. Its large morphological forms are the trumpet and the broken, collapsed surfaces. Its small morphological forms are the dome and the ceiling channel. Much of it consists of dissolved and heavily rounded wall forms.

The tunnel-like entrance corridor is 1.5–2 m wide and 5–6 m high. It contains a chamber four metres wide and ten metres long, in which large, no longer growing stalactite formations can be observed. The corners of the chamber could have been used by smugglers. Many of the cave’s stalactites have been damaged. Hanging stalactites, straw stalactites, stalactite flags, wolf‑tooth stalactite ledges, stalactite poisonings, stalactite canopies, heliktites and coral pea stones, typical (spherical) pea stones, draft pea stones have also formed on its walls. Various bat species roost there, but the cave is not considered endangered from a bat‑protection standpoint. Badgers also occur in its passages. The cave can be visited with basic caving equipment and only with a permit. It was probably visited frequently, and is still visited, as attested by the many wall inscriptions in the unsealed cave.

Among the three caves in the Szögliget area that are protected separately, one is this, the other two are the Csörgő‑spring cave and the Pérecs‑sinkhole.

The cave also appears in the literature under the names Butyka‑valley cave (Kordos 1984), Butyka‑valley cave (Vlk 2019), Butyka valley cave (Csernavölgyi, Hegedűs, Molnár 1977), Butykavölgyi cave (Bertalan 1976) and Csempész cave (Csernavölgyi 1973). In 1957 it was first called Csempész‑cave in the literature.

Research History

Endre Dudich’s book published in 1932 may mention this cave. On page 163 it reads that there is a stalactite cave near Derenk. The first description that is certain to refer to this cave dates from 1957. In that manuscript it is written that the cave’s length is about 30 m and its depth 12 m. First it is mentioned as a steep and inactive water‑draining cave, whose water‑catchment area drained towards the east, then it is presented as of disputed origin. According to the author, it would be worthwhile to explore it in detail.

In 1973 the Tektonik Barlangkutató Csoport explored the cave. In that year László Csernavölgyi, Gyula Csöndör and M. Szabó surveyed the cave, then László Csernavölgyi, based on the survey, compiled the cave's floor plan map and seven cross‑section maps. In the guidebook edited by László Jakucs and published in 1975 it is written that the short Csempész Cave opens at the notch of the border. On card number 76 in the manuscript written by Károly Bertalan, completed in 1976, it is mentioned that the Butykavölgyi Cave located in Szögliget, on the Lower Mountain, has another name, Csempész Cave. The cave entrance is 1.4 km east of Derenk, on the left side of the neglected country road from Vidomáj‑puszta to Jablonec, directly at the state border, at an elevation of 390 m above sea level. The cave is about 30 m long and 12 m deep. The cave is a steep and inactive water sink, whose water‑collecting area terminates to the east. The part of the manuscript describing the cave was written based on two literary works.

According to a speleological field report prepared on January 30, 1977, based on a survey conducted on July 21, 1973, bones were recovered during the exploratory excavation of the cave. Bones and skeletal remains of badger, fox and rabbit were found in the cave. The planimetric length of the cave is 44 m, the actual length of the cave is 50 m, its horizontal extent is 25 m and its vertical extent is 8 m. The manuscript mentions, besides the currently used name of the cave, two alternative names and includes the map made in 1973. In the national cave list of the book *Hungary’s Caves* published in 1984, the cave located in the Aggtelek Karst appears under the name Butyka‑valley‑cave with the variant name Csempész‑cave. Associated with the list is a 1:500 000 scale map showing the geographical location of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains, indicating the geographical location of the cave.