Keleti quarry No 13 Cave

The Keleti quarry No. 13 cave is one of the caves located in the 3rd district of Budapest, in the Budai Landscape Protection Area of the Danube–Ipoly National Park.

Description

On the upper level of the abandoned, two‑storey quarry on the southeastern side of Mátyás Hill, in the eastern, right side of the quarry yard, there is a natural but artificially opened horizontal entrance oriented along the axis. The entrance can be reached using rope‑technical equipment. The entrance opens near the Keleti quarry No. 6 cave. It was formed along a tectonic fault, due to mixing corrosion of spring waters rising from depth. The easily walkable, unrestricted cave can be visited freely with basic caving equipment.

The Keleti quarry No. 13 cave also appears in the literature under the names Cave 13 (Acheron 1993), Keleti quarry No. 13 cave (Leél‑Őssy 1995), Mátyás DK quarry No. 13 cave (Kárpát 1989), Mátyás‑hegy DK quarry No. 13 cave (Kárpát 1989), Mátyás‑hegy DK quarry No. 13 cave (Kárpát 1992) and Teraszos‑lik (Acheron 1993).

Research history

According to the statements of elderly residents living nearby, there were many cavities on the quarry floor when the quarry was operating. The many small caves on the wall of the upper quarry yard and the numerous cave indications and formations suggest that quarrying destroyed a large cave, or the upper part of a large cave. The caves visible today are remnants of this large cave. From the 1943 edition of Barlangvilág it is known that Bertalan Károly and Albert Béla, within the systematic study of the caves around Buda, examined the 14 small cavities in the quarries of Mátyás Hill and Kecske Hill.

It first appeared in the 1957 Geographical Bulletin, and the study written by Sándor Leél-Őssy mentions the large stone quarry cavities of Mátyás Hill, which formed in nummulitic limestone. On the site map in the study that shows the geographical location of the caves of the Buda Hills, the geographical location of the cavities found in the large stone quarry of Mátyás Hill can be observed. (These cavities are listed on the site map among the karstic caves.) In the book titled *Budapest természeti képe* published in 1958 it is written that in the wall of the large stone quarry of Mátyás Hill facing D there are karstic cavities. In the book *Budapest* edited by András Vitéz and Miklós Pap and published in 1961 it is mentioned that a hiker can see cavities in the stone quarry on the DK side of Mátyás Hill, which are similar to the Mátyás Hill cave but smaller in size.

The report published in the 1963 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin mentions that the BEAC Cave Research Group investigated the K side stone quarry of Mátyás Hill in 1962. On the quarry’s rock wall several openings are visible, of which two (in their present condition) can be called caves. No one has yet dealt with their investigation. Geologist Gábor Láng mapped the cavities. Characteristic spherical chambers indicate the karstic origin of the cavities. The largest is about 4 m in diameter. In addition to the exploration of Barit Cave, research is also promising at two other locations.

The 1964 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin mentions that in the quarry on Mátyás Hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest's District III, long‑known cave remnants were found in 1963. The cavity system is highly charged, consisting of spherical chambers and hydrothermal fissures. Members of the BEAC Nature‑Walking Section Cave Research Group have been carrying out exploratory work at several points of the quarry since 1962. In 1963, working about 200 hours, they were able to advance forward in several places. They saw that the situation was encouraging, but that results could be achieved only with much work. They planned to continue the exploratory work in the quarry in 1964. They began the geological and mineralogical processing of the site, the precise surveying, leveling and mapping of the area. They will certainly finish the cartographic work in the spring.

The book published in 1966 titled *Budai-hegység útikalauz* states that in the other (DK) quarry of Mátyás-hegy (not the Mátyás-hegy-barlang quarry) there are also small cave cavities. 9 cavities became known in this stone mine. In the 1972 *Karszt és Barlang* it was reported that on April 24, 1972 (at the request of the Budapest Police Headquarters), members of the Cave Rescue Service inspected the cavities of the eastern quarry of Mátyás-hegy because of their disappearance. The manuscript *Magyarország barlangleltára* completed in 1976 does not mention the cave. The report of the Vass Imre Cave Research Group from 1978 states that the group has been researching and mapping the K-i quarry on Mátyás-hegy for several years. Some chambers of the quarry were broken into by the young group members in 1978, resulting in the extension of several chambers by 2–3 m, but no significant result was achieved. According to the publication *Budai-hegység útikalauz* that saw the light in 1982, there are small water‑origin cavities in the K-i side quarry of Mátyás-hegy.