No 5 Cave of Róka-hegyi quarry

The No 5 cave of the Róka‑hegy quarry is one of the caves located in the Budai Landscape Protection Zone of the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in District III of Budapest.

Description

In the middle of the formerly cultivated quarry of Róka‑hegy, one of the southeasternmost hills of the Pilis Mountains, on a rock wall on the side opposite the Róka‑hegy Poros cave, within a nature‑protected area, the cave entrance opens about 6 m above the quarry floor level. The cave was formed in Triassic limestone by dissolution in water. Parts of the cave on the quarry side were destroyed during mining, but the original cross‑section of the cave is still clearly visible. No permission is required to visit the cave, but rope safety must be used to reach the entrance.

According to the cave map, the cave’s other name is Roncs‑cave (Sásdi 1997).

Research history

The cave was discovered as a result of stone mining. The Budapest lexicon, which saw daylight in 1973, mentions that from the depressions of the quarries operating or abandoned on the top and sides of Róka‑hegy two small (water‑origin) pits and several small artificial cavities open. The cave’s name does not appear in the national cave list of the book *Caves of Hungary* published in 1984. The cave was surveyed on 22 March 1997 by László Sásdi, who then prepared the cave plan map and cross‑section map based on the survey. Both maps present the cave at a scale of 1 : 100. The plan map shows the location of the cross‑section within the cave.