Keleti quarry No 15 Cave

The Keleti quarry No. 15 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 part of the Buda thermal karst, on the western, left side of the quarry yard, under a rock wall, there is a natural but artificially opened horizontal entrance oriented along the axis. Its entrance is near the Keleti quarry No. 14 cave.

The cave developed in Upper Eocene limestone, in the Szépvölgyi Limestone Formation. The Keleti quarry No. 15 cave is 120 metres from the eastern end of the Mikulás branch of the Mátyás‑hill cave. The easily walkable, unsealed cave can be visited freely with basic caving equipment.

The Keleti quarry No. 15 cave occurs in the literature as cave 15 (Fehér, Fritz 1995), cave number 15 (Fehér 2007), No. 15 cave (Fehér 1994), 15.cave (Kárpát 1992), No. 15 object (Fehér 1994), DK quarry No. 15 cave (Acheron 1993), Keleti quarry No. 15 cave (Leél‑Őssy 1995), Kemény‑lik (Acheron 1993), Söntés‑cave (Fehér, Fritz 1995) and Söntés cave (Fehér, Fritz 1995), and possibly also as Mátyás‑hill rock cavity 9 (Bertalan 1976) and Mátyás‑hill No. 9 rock cavity (Kordos 1984), which are name variants of the Keleti quarry No. 15 cave.

Research history

According to the statements of elderly residents living nearby, there were many cavities at 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 *Barlangvilág* it is known that Károly Bertalan and Béla Albert, 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 nummulite limestone. On the site map in the study, which 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 there are karstic cavities in the wall of the large stone quarry on the D side of Mátyás Hill. 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.

In the report published in the 1963 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin it is mentioned 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 cavities’ karstic origin. 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 Investigation Bulletin mentions that in the stone quarry on Mátyás Hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest District III, long‑known cavity remains were found in 1963. The cavity system is highly charged with spherical chambers and hydrothermal fissures. Members of the BEAC Nature Hiking Section Cave Investigation Group have been conducting 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 only a great amount of work could yield results. 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 most certainly finish the cartographic work in the spring.

The book published in 1966 titled Budai‑hegy Guide states that in another (DK) quarry on Mátyás Hill (not the Mátyás‑hegy‑cave quarry) there are also small cave cavities. Nine cavities became known in this stone mine. The 1972 Karst and Cave Bulletin reported that on 24 April 1972 (at the request of the Budapest Police Headquarters), due to their disappearance, members of the Cave Rescue Service inspected the cavities of the eastern quarry of Mátyás Hill. In the manuscript titled Hungary’s Cave Register, completed in 1976, among the caves in the DK quarry on Mátyás Hill there may be a brief description of this cave under the name Mátyáshegyi 9. rock cavity. The entrance of Mátyáshegyi 9. rock cavity is on the north side of the quarry yard in Budapest District III, in the DK quarry. It is a cave of about 3 m length of karst origin. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on a manuscript, but the mentioned manuscript no longer exists.