Cserpes-kő Rock Shelter

Cserepes-kő Rock Shelter is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located on the Bükk plateau, within the Bükki National Park. It has been converted into a temporary tourist accommodation. Among Hungary's caves, this was the first to be turned into a dwelling cave.

Description

It opens on a rocky ridge under the Cserepes-kő peak of the Bükk plateau, forming the southeastern spur of Kálmán Hill about 6 km from Béláapátfalva. It is located directly next to the county border. It can be reached via the tourist trail marked with the blue stripe of the National Blue Trail. A blue‑marked tourist trail led to it already in 1929, during the research of Ottó Kadić. It is one of the stamp sites of section 23 of the National Blue Trail. The stamp was placed at the entrance. A regular half‑circle, open entrance was fitted with a wooden door. It consists of a single room. It formed in the upper Ladinian limestone of the Karni formation. Its length is 6 metres, its width 7 metres and its height 2.5 metres.

The cave accommodation is winterized, and six people can sleep on the bed built from two wooden frames. The heating of the room is provided by a wood‑fired barrel stove, whose smoke pipe runs through a chimney‑used flue to the surface. It is free to use and open to visitors all year round. The nearest spring is a little more than two kilometres away, much lower than the cave’s altitude above sea level, and is located at the Pes‑kő house.

In 1977 the cave was first called Cserepes-kői-sziklaodún in the literature (Hevesi 1977). The cave appears in the literature under the names Barlangszállás (Bertalan 1976), Cserepes-kői-barlang (Dely 1970), Cserepes-kői barlangszállás (Neidenbach, Pusztay 2005), Cserepes-kői-sziklaodu (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1973–1974), Cserepeskői sziklaodu (Kadić 1933), Cserepeskői sziklaodú (Kadić, Mottl 1944), Cserepeskői sziklaüreg (Bertalan 1976), Cserepeskői üreg (Bartalos 1909) and Cserepeskő lyuka (Hazslinszky 1999). The permanent inhabitants of the cave are bats and the pelék.

Research History

First, in 1909 Gyula Bartalos mentioned the cave in print. According to his description, at that time the cave was sometimes inhabited by runaway bandits. Lajos Kolacskovszky wrote something similar in his manuscript. The Cserepes-kő lyuka was a frequent hideout of the persecuted bandit. (The sentence presenting the cave is from the work written by Tamás Hazslinszky.) The cave had long been used for overnight stays by naturalists and hunters, as known from the publication by Ottokár Kadić and Mária Mottl published in 1944. The first known researcher of the cavity was Ottokár Kadić, who investigated the Cserepes-kői-sziklaodú in 1929. He examined the cavity on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture. The rock cavity, which at that time was observed to have a stone fence in front of it, was led to by Imre Nagy, a sub‑forester.

During the research, Ottokár Kadić's accommodation was the Cserepes-kő hunting lodge, which he could use with the permission of Alfonz Károly Pallavicini. The hunting house was on the estate of Alfonz Károly Pallavicini. At that time Ottokár Kadić drew the cave floor plan map and the longitudinal section map. According to the survey, the cave is 6 m long, 4 m wide, and 2 m high. During the trial excavation of the Cserepes-kő rock shelter in 1929, a few bear bone fragments, fragments of pottery, and a bone-made, smoothly sharpened spear point were found, as well as several superimposed hearth layers.

János Dancza carried out temperature measurements in the cavity in 1934. According to a publication that appeared in the 1937 issue of Turisták Lapja, the 6 m long rock shelter is located at the border of Szilvásvárad, under the back of Cserepes-kő, directly on the edge of the county border. A narrow fissure opens from the cave to the mountain summit. In 1944 the maps drawn in 1929 and the first detailed description of the rock shelter were published in print. At that time a 1:25 000 scale map was published, showing the cave's geographic location.

This rock shelter was turned into Hungary's first inhabited cave by nature enthusiasts. The Odvas-kői-sziklaüreg and the Három-kúti Remete-barlang are the other two inhabited caves still functioning in our country. The Sólyom-kúti-sziklaüreg's use as a cave dwelling has been discontinued. All three caves are located in the Bükk Mountains. At the initiative of Kertay Sándor and József Bárdos of Eger, the inhabited cave was created in 1950 with the help of their hiking companions. The activities of the Eger tourists are reported in the publication titled *Bükk portyavezető*, which appeared in 1954. The shelter has been damaged several times, but the nature lovers from Eger always restored it. The Jászberényi Turista Egyesület also participated in later renovations.

In the cave name index of the *Magyar barlangtani bibliográfia* compiled by Bertalan Károly and László Schőnviszky and published in 1976, the cave located in the Bükk Mountains is mentioned under the name Cserepes-kői-sziklaodu. The cave name index lists four literary works that deal with the cave.

In the manuscript titled *Magyarország barlangleltára*, completed in 1976, it is stated that the Cserepes-kői-sziklaodu located in Szilvásvárad in the Bükk Mountains has additional names Cserepeskői sziklaüreg and Barlangszállás. On the side of Cserepes-kő, along the national Blue Trail route, is its regular parabolic entrance. The 6 m long cave reaches the surface through a tunnel-like and narrow fissure. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on two literary works. A short description of the rock shelter can be found in the book *Bükk útikalauz*, published in 1977.