Gyula-pihenője Cave

Gyula-pihenője Cave is one of the caves located in Pilis Mountains in Pilisszentkereszt, within the Danube–Ipoly National Park. It is the highest situated cave of the Transdanubian Central Mountains. The cavity is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

In the outskirts of Pilisszentkereszt, 10° from the Nagy-Szoplák peak, 150 m away, 15 m lower, the cave’s entrance is well visible from a distance in a 6 m high rock wall. The stone‑cell‑like ruin cave splits into two branches. Corrasion forms dominate its passages. It continues in several narrow, fox‑den‑like tubes, in which, according to signs, foxes or badgers live. The cavity is dry. Its fill consists of twigs, humus, wood debris (underbrush) and stone rubble. The cave is not significant and not worth researching. The cave can be entered without a permit; basic caving equipment is sufficient for its visitation.

The cave was named in honor of Gyula Szücs. Gyula Szücs was a teacher from Pilisszentkereszt and he wrote the book *Pilisszentkereszt and its surroundings*, published in 1913, which describes many caves. In literature the cave appears under the names Gyula-pihenő (Szücs 1913), Gyula-pihenő-cave (Vörös 1930), Gyula-pihenője (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1976), Gyula pihenője-cave (Mezei 1967), Gyula pihenője cave (Polgárdy 1941), Szopláki‑stone‑cell (Bertalan 1976) and Szücs Gyula‑cavity (Kadić 1952). In 1982 the cave was first called Gyula-pihenője-cave in literature.

Research History

The book *Pilisszentkereszt and its surroundings*, published in 1913, mentions that the wide entrance of Gyula-pihenő on Nagy‑Szoplák faces towards Kis‑Szoplák. A tourist association named Gyula-pihenő after Gyula Szücs’s first name. The 4 m long resting place is divided into two parts. The left‑hand cavity is 5 m wide, the right‑hand cavity 2 m wide. Its height at the entrance is 2 m, but it narrows inward. It provides good shelter and night accommodation for 15–20 people. Because tourists rarely visit it, foxes and badgers inhabit it. The route Mexico, Nagy‑Szoplák, Gyula-pihenő can be walked in 0.5 hour. The route Dobogókő, Nagy‑Szoplák, Gyula-pihenő can be walked in 1.5 hour. The map in the publication presenting Pilisszentkereszt and its surroundings illustrates the geographical location of Gyula-pihenője-cave.

The 1930 edition of Turisták Lapja mentions that the Gyula-pihenő-barlang is located on Nagy-Szoplák, consisting of two parts 5 and 2 m wide. A beautiful view opens from the cave entrance. The Remete-lyuk is located east of the Gyula-pihenője-barlang. The 1931 edition of Turisták Lapja, in a study written by Imre Gábor Bekey, mentions that after the excavation of the Csévi-barlang, research on the post‑prehistoric period in the other caves of the Pilis Mountains no longer seemed reasonable. Not even the small water sink on the top of Szoplak, because it is only a geographical curiosity. The 1941 Hungarian Tourist Encyclopedia states that the Gyula pihenője cave is located east of the summit of Nagy‑Szoplák (709 m).

According to the manuscript written by Ottokár Kadić, completed in 1952, the Szücs Gyula cavity (Gyula-pihenő) opens at the border of Pilisszentkereszt, near Nagy‑Szoplák. The wide‑entrance rock cavity, 2 m high and 4 m long, splits into two parts. The right‑hand part is 2 m wide, the left‑hand part 5 m wide. It is a good shelter and night lodging suitable for 15–20 people. A tourist association named the cavity Gyula-pihenő in honor of the teacher Szücs Gyula of Pilisszentkereszt. According to Ottokár Kadić, it is more correct to call this cave Szücs Gyula cavity because of the first explorer of the Pilisszentkereszt caves. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on two publications.

In the 1953 Geographical Bulletin, in a study written by Sándor Láng, it is stated that the Gyula-pihenője Cave lies a few steps from the summit of Nagy-Szoplák to the ENE. The cave entrance is on a small, prominent Dachstein limestone ridge. The cave descends steeply to the DNy. The very clogged cave is about 2 m long and 1–1.5 m wide. There are several side fissures that lead to the flat ceiling. There is no karst breccia in the foreground anywhere. It is most likely that it was a steeply opening shaft cave that became clogged. It is at 700 m above sea level, therefore the highest‑located cave in the Dunazug Mountains. In figure 6 of the publication, on the longitudinal section map of Pilis Mountain, the approximate geographical location of the caves on Pilis Mountain can be seen. The drawing shows the geographical location of the Gyula-pihenője Cave.

The 1954 Geographical Bulletin mentions that many caves are found on Pilis Mountain, e.g. the Gyula-pihenője Cave. In the book Pilis Guidebook, which appeared in 1967, it is written that the entrance of the Gyula-pihenője Cave is on the ENE side of the Nagy-Szoplák summit, the eastern‑northeastern member of the Pilis summit. The 2 m stone niche is not only the highest cave of the Pilis range but also of the entire Transdanubian Central Mountains, located at 700 m above sea level. In the Pilis Guidebook published in 1974, in the list of caves of the Pilis and Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20), it is mentioned that the Gyula-pihenője Cave lies among the caves of the Pilis and Visegrád Mountains. The description of the Pilis Mountains caves includes a passage on the Gyula-pihenője Cave that matches the description of the Gyula-pihenője Cave presented in the 1967 guidebook.