Lilla Cave

Lilla Cave has been one of Hungary's specially protected caves since 1988. It is located in the Bükk region. It is part of the Bükki National Park.

Description

On the eastern side of the Little Plateau, about 50 metres from the Kaszás-kúti back‑flow, on a rocky terrain, in a forest, on the side of a talus, there is a front, broken, artificially created, horizontally oriented entrance built with flowstone up to one and a half–two metres high. It is a horizontally extending, branching, inactive water‑draining cave. The Kaszás‑kúti stream probably also played a role in its formation. It developed in Triassic limestone. A large dripstone chamber divides the very clayey cave.

Similar to the Little Stone‑house‑Zsomboly, here one also finds stalactite debris fill, debris piles that have formed metre‑diameter stalagmites. Straw‑like stalactites also deserve attention. Cave bear and other vertebrate bones have been recovered from it. Its horizontal extension is 70 metres. The cave is closed with an iron door. Sections of the cave not opened to tourism may be visited with permission from the Bükki National Park Directorate. The cave passage can be walked with basic equipment.

It took its name from the nearby Lillafüred. In 1978 the cave was first called Lilla Cave in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the names Kaszáskúti /inactive/ water‑draining cave, It has no name yet cave (Kordos 1978) and Romvár Cave (Kordos 1978).

Research History

Members of the Miskolc Miners Cave Research Group began excavating the cave in 1970. In October 1978 the group entered the cave. The 1978 explorers were Sándor Várszegi, Zoltán Mélypataki, Ferenc Máriássy, János Vigyó and Éva Bettes. In November 1978 Sándor Várszegi and Szabolcs Szeremley surveyed the cave with a plumb line, clinometer and measuring tape. In 1978, using the survey data, a draft of the cave plan map and cross‑section maps was prepared. In that year the cave plan map and cross‑section maps were edited. According to the survey the cave length is 180 m and its depth 15 m. László Lénárt and Zsuzsanna Majoros on 13 November 1978 collected cave bear, large hare and field rabbit bones from the cave’s excavation debris and from the surface of its fill.

According to the information published in the January–February 1979 issue of the MKBT Programme Booklet, the cave was explored in October and November 1978 to a length of more than 100 m. The 1979 book *Caves in the Bükk* mentions that the Lilla Cave is located next to the Kaszás‑well. The very beautiful cave is 150 m long, almost horizontal and contains a lot of stalactite. It must be protected intensively. The publication includes a photograph showing a stalactite column in the cave. On the map attached to the book, which shows the area of the Bükk Mountains richest in caves, the cave marked with number 8 is shown in its geographical location.

The Speleology Sub‑Group of the Nature‑Hiking Section of the Sports Association of the Borsod Coal Mines Management Board carried out clearing work in 1982 near the cave entrance, which was necessary for the safe sealing of the cave, and then installed a 4 mm corrugated metal sheet covering on the previously installed iron grate. This practically eliminated the possibility of repeated break‑ins. The cave’s register card dated 6 October 1982 records that the Lilla Cave is about 180 m long, about 15 m deep and about 70 m wide horizontally. The cleared entrance of the cave is 1.2 m high, 1.6 m wide, and has an iron door equipped with an internal lock. According to the October note on the register card, the cave passage endangers its formations. A passage‑level deepening is required to protect the ceiling formations. In front of the cave entrance, clearing debris is piled up on both sides.

The cave called Lilla Cave, with the alternative name Romvár Cave, in the Bükk Mountains appears in the national cave list of the book "Caves of Hungary" published in 1984. In the list, the geographical location of the cave is shown on a map at a scale of 1:500 000 that depicts the location of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains. In 1987, a short dripstone passage section was discovered by excavation and the cave was closed. From October 1 1988, according to the Ministry of Environment and Water Management decree No. 7/1988. (X. 1.) KVM (article 6 § 2 point, and annex 5), the Lilla Cave in the Bükk Mountains is a specially protected cave. It is a specially protected cave because of its mineral deposits. The 1988 Gazette of Karst and Caves announced that the Lilla Cave located in the Bütk Mountains was included among Hungary's specially protected caves. In Hungary, together with the Lilla Cave, 108 caves are specially protected.

The Borsod Coal Mines Ltd. SE Naturalist Department Speleology Group had a research permit for cave exploration in 1990. From May 14, 1998, according to the Ministry of Environment and Regional Development decree 13/1998. (V. 6.) KTM, the Lilla Cave located in the Bükk Mountains, within the jurisdiction of the Bükk National Park Directorate, may be visited with the directorate’s permission. In 2000–2005, on behalf of the Bükk National Park Directorate, ten members of the Marcel Loubens Speleology Association—Veres Imre, Fogarasi Marina, Gedeon Boglárka, Gergely Péter, Krajnyák Erika, Kovács Zsolt, Csomós János, Lénárt Emese, Mogyorósi József and Sűrű Péter—surveyed the cave and, based on the survey, Kovács Zsolt prepared a plan map with 13 cross‑sections as well as a projection side‑view map. From May 17, 2001, according to the Ministry of Environment decree 13/2001. (V. 9.) KöM, the Lilla Cave in the Bükk Mountains is a specially protected cave. Simultaneously, the provision 1/1982. (III. 15.) OKTH concerning the determination of the circle of specially protected caves loses effect. In the book published in 2003, “Hungary’s Specially Protected Caves,” it is shown that it is 180 metres long, with a vertical extent of 15 metres and a horizontal extent of 70 metres.