Csókás Cave

Csókás Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located on the Bükk plateau in the Bükk National Park. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

On the Little Plateau, on the southern side of the part called Csókás, at the northern foot of a large sinkhole, in a forest, at an altitude of 445 meters above sea level, at the base of a rock wall, there is a natural, slope‑oriented entrance 90 centimeters wide and one meter high. It is located near the Csókás spring. The entrance is narrow and sloping, marked on tourist maps, and a tourist trail also leads to it.

A water‑draining cave no longer operating today, formed along tectonic fault lines. It developed in Upper Triassic limestone. In fact it consists of a single main branch, with no long side passages. The passage system is horizontal in character. At the entrance a ladder has been placed to facilitate its viewing. The cave can be entered with basic caving equipment. A few small stalactites and a tufa formation are visible inside.

In the literature the cave also appears under the names Csókás-barlang (Stach 1929), Csókás barlang (Jánossy 1976), Csókás-forrási-barlang (Bajomi 1977), Csókási barlang (Kadić 1907) and Csókási-viznyelő-barlang (Lénárt 1975). In 1937 the cave was first called Csókási-barlang in the literature.

Research History

In the 1907 volume of the Geological Gazette, in a study written by Ottó Kadić, it is mentioned that Ottó Kadić explored the limestone area belonging to the system of the Szinva stream valley and here, on the left bank of the Garadna stream, visited the Csókás cave. In 1913 Kadić Ottó entered it again, surveyed and measured the cave, and in 1914 he described its passages and the results of his investigation in detail in *Barlangkutatás*. In the book published in 1932 titled *The Aggtelek Stalactite Cave and Its Surroundings*, in the section about the caves of the Bükk Mountains, it is stated that at the border of Varbó, on the D‑slope of the highland called Csókás, the Csókás cave is located. The description was written based on a publication.

In the 1937 volume of Turisták Lapja, which saw the light of day, according to a study written by László Schőnviszky, the cave is located at the bottom of Csókás D, on the slope behind the Csókás well, and is 55 m long. The entrance of the dripstone cave slopes. Inside the cave there are shell-like, tufa formations. In the book titled Felvidék, published in 1940, it is written that not far from Udvar-kő, near the Csókás meadow, there is the narrow‑entrance but widening Csókás cave. The cave consists of a 10–12 m high dome, a narrow corridor and an interesting shaft, containing beautiful dripstone pools and, in its innermost part, sparkling snow‑white stalactites. Because of its structure it was not among the dwellings of the prehistoric people living in the Bükk Mountains. It is worth visiting the developing dripstone cave.

The 1941 edition of the Magyar turista lexikon has a separate entry for the cave. The publication states that in the Bükk Mountains, at the border of Varbó, at the bottom of Csókás (519 m) D, the Csókás cave is located. After the narrow cave entrance follows an 8 m long east‑west fissure, which continues in an 8 m long cavity and then in a domed chamber 12 m high. A small fissure is found after a low cavity, and finally the cave ends in a white chamber. The 55 m long cave has beautiful dripstone and shell‑like tufa formations. The 1942 volume of Országjárás mentioned that one of the notable caves of the Bükk Mountains is the Varbó Csókás cave, which is a beautiful dripstone cave.

In 1954 Gyula Kuchta surveyed the cave. According to the cave’s map base plate, the completed floor plan map is only a map sketch, and the given linear scale is incorrect. According to the book titled *The World of Caves* published in 1962, the cave is 55 m long. In the 1962 publication *Bükk Travel Guide* it is mentioned that among the many small caves located in the Source Valley and the Little Fennsík, one is the Csókás Cave. László Lénárt, in the 1975 MKBT Report, in a few words probably described this cave as the Csókás sinkhole cave.

In the MKBT Report of 1976, in the report written by Dénes Jánossy, it is mentioned that in 1976 a scattered paleontological find emerged from the Csókás Cave in the Bükk Mountains (Miskolc Forestry). In the manuscript written by Károly Bertalan, completed in 1976, it reads that the Csókás Cave is located in the Bükk Mountains, in Parasznyá. At an altitude of 460 m above sea level, its entrance is on the eastern edge of the basin in front of the Csókás spring, leading to the 55 m long inactive water‑sink cave. The entrance is a small opening and a downward‑going passage. The description was written based on two publications.

The 1976 edition of the Hungarian speleology bibliography compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky mentions the cave in Varbó, in the Bükk Mountains, under the name Csókási Cave. The cave name index lists 7 literary works that deal with the cave. In the study published in 1977 in Karszt és Barlang, there is a map of Hungary on which the geographic locations of the biologically studied caves in Hungary can be seen. The map shows the geographic location of the Csókás-forrási Cave, which is under biological processing. (According to the map, the cave is found both in the Bükk Mountains and in the Aggtelek Karst.) The English-language version of the study was included in the 1977 special issue of the journal. In this study the map was also published, on which Csókás-forrás is the name of the cave.