Pisznice Cave

Pisznice Cave is one of the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the area of the Gerecse Mountains in the Danube–Ipoly National Park. It is one of the six specially protected caves of the Gerecse Mountains. It is the second longest cave in the mountains, the longest being the Keselő-hegyi-barlang. Archaeological and paleontological finds have been recovered from it.

Description

At the foot of a rocky, steep south‑facing wall in the central part of the Gerecse Mountains, near a large, rocky dead‑end on the north side, at an altitude of 466 m above sea level, is the entrance of the cave. It can be reached via a path branching off from a forest stone trail on the mountain side, the old yellow‑marked tourist trail. The cave entrance is 2 m wide, 2 m high, semicircular at the top, irregular at the bottom and artificially enlarged.

The cave, formed in thick‑bedded Dachstein limestone of the Upper Triassic, is 560 m long. Its characteristic feature is that the passages are placed almost horizontally, side by side and one above the other, parallel to each other. The passages of the upper level are spacious, the lower passages are narrow and the levels are connected by narrow channels. The cave’s thermal karst nature is demonstrated by its great horizontal extent, dome‑shaped chambers, calcite deposits and pea‑stones. The cave’s dripstones have often been damaged.

Immediately after the entrance there is a 1.5 m drop leading to the lower part of the Entrance Hall. From here the lower passage of the Western side branch starts, which is walkable for about 30 m. The lower passage connects to the upper passage of the side branch with a small dome at about 15 m. Continuing outward, one can reach the upper part of the Entrance Hall. This spacious hall is 3–8 m wide, 4–6 m high and 15 m long. At the end of the hall, in the narrow passage section 19 m from the entrance, a wrought‑iron door is built.

Access to the closed cave requires a permit from the Danube–Ipoly National Park Directorate and basic caving equipment, and it may only be visited by those experienced in caving. When the bats are in their winter hibernation period there, from 1 October to 30 April, visitation is prohibited.

In 1926 the cave was first called the Pisznice Cave in the literature. In the literature the Pisznice Cave also appears as Bőregér-lyuk (Székely 1994), Nagy Pisznicei-barlang (Bertalan 1976), Nagy-pisznicei-barlang (Székely 1994), Pisznice barlang (Topál 1954), Pisznice Cave (Kordos 1977), Pisznicei-barlang (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1976), Pisznicei barlang (Holényi 1959) and Priesnitz-barlang (Székely 1994).

Flora and Fauna

The vertebrate remains from the Pisznice Cave were studied by László Kordos in the 1980s. According to Kordos’s findings, based on the finds the sediment can be divided into four stratigraphic units: a young Holocene, an older early Holocene, an upper Pleistocene and a lower‑middle Pleistocene deposit. Many bat guano deposits accumulated in the cave, which were removed. In the 1950s several thousand bats were counted in the cave, a number that has since decreased dramatically. The cave is an important natural asset because many bat species occur there, including protected and rare bat species identified in the passages. It serves as a permanent winter roost and an occasional summer roost for bats.

History of Research

The first printed description of the cave, written by Elek Fényes, appeared in 1848. In the second half of the 19th century the locals in the area were familiar with the cave.

According to the book describing Esztergom county published in 1908, traces of cave dwellers were not 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; 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 and huts. The caves or dug-out hollows that are still numerous in forests or 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 study published in the 1926 Esztergom Yearbook mentions that the large cave on the side of Nagy-Pisznice in the Gerecse Mountains was explored, measured and partially made passable by Kadić Ottokár and Vigh Gyula in 1922 and 1924. A detailed examination of the cave has not yet been carried out. According to the 1926 *Barlangvilág*, Kadić Ottokár and Vigh Gyula decided in 1922 to survey the Pisznice cave located in the Gerecse Mountains. From the book *Nature Conservation and Natural Monuments* that saw the light in 1931 it is known that the Pisznice cave is one of the noteworthy caves of the Gerecse Mountains. It is a very interesting cave because of its vaulted formation. It is also quite important from a tourism point of view. The cave has not yet been professionally described, but Kadić Ottokár and Vigh Gyula have surveyed the cavity.