Gerecse Protected Landscape Area

The area of the Gerecse Protected Landscape Area is 8,739 hectares, of which 1,365 hectares are intensively protected. The protected landscape area falls under the Directorate of the Danube–Ipoly National Park.

Location

The Gerecse is a sharply delineated mountain group between the Vértes Mountains and the Danube. Its natural borders are the Danube to the north, the Danube‑Almás‑Tatai fault line and the Által‑ér valley to the west, and the Tata‑Bicske fault line to the south. Its eastern border does not separate sharply.

Characteristics

The mountain is known for its mines and caves. The 400–600 m high rocks were formed in the Triassic and Jurassic periods about 200–150 million years ago. In the rocks, ancient marine giant single‑celled organisms, megalo‑duses, and in the contemporaneous red limestone, the shells of ammonites with cup‑shaped heads can be seen. Among the mines of the Gerecse limestone mountains, the Nagypisznice mine is the most famous, from which the red limestone was probably already quarried by the Romans, and certainly during the times of Sigismund of Luxembourg and Matthias Corvinus; this red limestone—known as “red marble” from Piszké and Tardos—has been used for centuries in the construction of several notable buildings (perhaps the most famous is the Visegrád Palace).

Formation

The mountain is a typically un‑folded rock massif, which fractured under various orogenic movements, creating depressions and protrusions along the faults. Its oldest rocks are Triassic dolomite and Dachstein limestone, as well as the variably developed Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone formations, coarse‑gravel assemblages. These were layered by the middle Eocene sea with clayey, marly, and locally coal‑bearing sediments. In the structural troughs, after the Eocene terrestrial period, Oligocene sand, marl, and gravel were deposited, with Pannonian deltaic silt, clay and sand on the margins; the Quaternary sediments consist of freshwater limestone, loess, slope deposits, river sand and gravel.

Flora and Fauna

Although the vegetation of Gerecse resembles the flora found in the Vértes and Pilis, it is somewhat poorer. The most characteristic forest associations of the mountain are oak forests on ash soils, oak–hornbeam forests in the cooler areas and on the shaded sides of valleys, while the highest parts and the northern slopes are covered with beech forests.

The quickly warming south‑exposed slopes are covered with oak woods with moss and karst shrub forests with sour cherry, which in spring, during the sour cherry flowering, provide an impressive sight. In addition, another accompanying species of the karst shrub forests is the dwarf pine. The more exposed parts are covered with linden rubble‑forest, and the characteristic plants of the sunny side meadows are dwarf sedge and ribbed sandwort.

The treeless areas are covered with dolomite rock meadows and limestone‑loving, rocky‑grass slope terraces; on the lowland side of the mountain range lowland species are often found (e.g., Hungarian vetch). In several places in the range there are spring gentian, lady‑cypress, small lady‑fern, but the most outstanding plant of Gerecse is the Ice‑Age relic Hungarian lousewort living on Nagy‑Pisznice, which occurs in the country at only a few sites. Here also lives the also rare Borbás‑caper, and blue donkey‑bread, and valuable pearl‑wort associations on Nagy‑Somlyó.

The bird life of Gerecse is very rich, with nearly one hundred bird species proven to breed, including highly protected raptor birds such as the saker falcon, the imperial eagle, the bearded vulture, or the also rare colorful rock thrush, raven, and nightjar.

Among the mammals the wildcat, the hare, and several species of bat live in the caves.

Cultural values

At Vértesszőlős a half‑million‑year‑old pre‑human settlement was discovered, which is considered a very rare archaeological find worldwide.

A cultural‑historical curiosity is the small‑Gerecse Avar earth‑fort and the Neszmélyi castle hill. Pusztamarót was the site of the famous Marót battle following the Battle of Mohács. In the heart of the mountain range a medieval settlement is still being excavated, the Kovácsi excavation, where an Árpád‑age church, its associated cemetery and the remains of a later noble manor house can be seen.

Among the mountain castles, the Bajna, Bikolpuszta and the small‑Gerecse Serédi Castle are worth seeing.

In Agostyan an arboretum can be visited. At the border of this village we can find the region's nature conservation and human‑ecology education centre, whose aim is the study of the relationship between humans and nature, and the investigation of possibilities to restore the former harmonious relationship. In the organization of the foundation that operates the education centre, interested persons can take part in teacher‑training courses, forest schools, nature‑research and lifestyle camps.