Legény Cave

Legény Cave was for a long time a separate cave, but it is currently part of the highly protected Ariadne cave system, which is the third longest cave in the country. It is a significant archaeological site. It was one of Hungary's highly protected caves.

Description

Its large entrance is located on the rocky southern side of the Pilis mountain, in the lower zone of the Csévi ridges, at Pilisszentlélek. The southern, larger opening is Legény Cave. The northern, smaller entrance, 56 metres from the Legény Cave entrance, is Leány Cave. Tourist maps also indicate the locations of Leány Cave and Legény Cave.

The cave formed in Upper Triassic Dachstein limestone by dissolution below the karst water level. A watery origin cannot be proven. Its passages are labyrinthine, sometimes widening into large chambers, sometimes forming narrow crawling passages. Generally it is devoid of formations; where formations occur they are rich and varied dripstones, cave pearls, whose cores are formed by bat skulls. The brown cave clay is the primary sedimentary fill. Of interest is the occurrence of found andesite. The sediments consist mainly of a mass of calcium carbonate blocks.

In 1921 the cave was first called Legény Cave in the literature. In the literature the cave also appears under the names Chlapec Cave (Bella 1912), Klapec Cave (Sinka 1926), Klapec cave (Barcza, Thirring 1920), Klapecbarlang (Szegő 1948), Legény barlang (Kadić 1920), Legénybarlang (Barcza, Thirring 1920), Legény Cave (Kordos 1977) and Young Man Cave (Kordos 1977). Legény Cave and Leány Cave together were referred to in the literature as the Csévi double cave or Chlapec (Horváth, H. Kelemen, Torma 1979).

1871–1912

The 1871 yearbook of the Hungarian Royal Institute of Geology states that on the steep southern side of Hruba Skala at Csévi there is a cave.

According to the book published in 1908 that describes Esztergom county, no traces of cave dwellers were found in Esztergom county because there are no caves that contain evidence that ancient humans once lived in them. The first settlers came to this region with more advanced needs, and besides tools made of animal bones and antler they also used stone tools. Therefore they were not forced to live in caves or dug-out hollows, but could make tents as well as huts. The caves or dug-out hollows that are still numerous in forests or in remote, hard-to-reach areas and contain traces of human culture could not have been ancient human dwellings. They were mainly hideouts from the time of the Tatar invasion and Turkish destruction, because the objects found in them cannot be traced back to prehistoric times.

The publication appearing in the 1911 edition of Századok, written by Mihály Zákonyi, mentions that Özséb summoned six of his companions to a council around 1250, and as a result of the council a monastery was founded in honor of the Holy Cross beside the spring at the triple cave, in addition to his previous residence. (Békefi Remig proved that this was not the present Pilisszentkereszt. According to László Pámer this monastery was at Péliföldszentkereszt.)

The 1912 Archaeological Bulletin states that the Hungarian Geological Society Speleological Committee planned for 1912 to excavate two caves in the bend of the Danube, that is near Budapest, the Kis‑kevélyi Cave and the Chlapec Cave. The Chlapec Cave is far farther from Budapest, in Esztergom County. The committee entrusted the investigation of this cave to Lajos Bella and Ottokár Kadić. The committee expected significant results from the cave excavation. The cave was most prominently brought to attention by committee member Imre Gábor Bekey. Ottokár Kadić said that the cave is an impressive, almost dome‑shaped formation, an ideal cave. The excavation of the Chlapec Cave took place in May.

Lajos Bella was astonished when he first saw the cave. Sunlight streamed into the temple‑like, precisely north‑facing, huge vaulted cave in the afternoon. The greenish, fish‑scaled rock walls, the few places where reddish rock fissures glimmered with a warmer tone, created a vibration of light that tuned the soul to mysterious hints. But they did not come here dreaming. After asking the forest rangers who led them where the nearest water was, he received the answer that there was none here. The nearest well is located beyond the low ridge opposite, at Klastrompuszta. It takes an hour for a person to return from there. Bella and his companions examined the floor of the cave. Along the D‑wall, at two places there were piles that were certainly composed of debris removed from holes observed at the base of the rock and penetrating into the rock. They contained many fragments of vessels and bones.

Ottokár Kadić showed Bella Lajos a human ulna, on whose shaft the effect of fire was clearly visible. Based on the finding, Ottokár Kadić concluded that cannibals lived in the cave. The pots testified to all kinds of ash. Among them were prehistoric, medieval and contemporary ones. At the back, a narrow passage was visible at the 22 m length, which was filled with rock fragments, but there was a small opening through which a person could crawl. Imre Gábor Bekey crawled through the opening together with several people. While Imre Gábor Bekey was inside, Bella Lajos’s group examined the pit directly in front of the passage, on the east side of the cave, which led by a narrow opening into a 2 m‑diameter coal‑dark cavity.