Rákóczi No. 1. Cave

The Rákóczi No. 1 cave is one of the caves located inside Esztramos Mountain in the Aggtelek National Park. It is one of Hungary’s particularly varied and rich‑form, highly protected caves. It is one of the most beautiful caves in our country opened to tourism. Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, the cave has been part of the World Heritage since 1995.

Description

It can be reached from Bódvarákó. Turn left in front of the municipal boundary sign and then go straight for about one kilometre; the ticket office is in the area of the former mine, from where visitor groups depart hourly. The cave is accessible after about a 160‑metre walk through one of the abandoned mine tunnels of the Esztramos mountain quarry. Its entrance is 33.5 metres from the entrance of the Rákóczi No. 3 cave, which opens in the same tunnel.

Its peculiarity is the variety and juxtaposition of the different formations. The walls of the cave are covered with very varied forms and colours of formations, such as multi‑layered dripstones, various pea‑stones, calcite needles and aragonite crusts. Large dripstone curtains, dripstone flags and abundant heliktite crusts, as well as spherical stalagmites, can be observed in the cave. At the bottom of the cave there are two subterranean lakes and the larger part of its passages is located underwater.

The cave formed in Triassic limestone and developed along vertical fissures, partly with submerged passages. According to László Kordos, the characteristic in the area is the declining karst water level since the Pliocene, which may have played a role in the formation of passages and the karstic dissolution forms. The present water level of the lakes is at the same height as the middle water level of the Bódva. Based on the minerals found in the cave, many assume a warm water or mixed water origin. Its depth is 61 m, its height 18 m and its vertical extent 79 m. The sealed cave was equipped with electric lighting, iron walkways, stairs and ladders. It is open to the public with a guide, year‑round, in groups of up to 10 people. Sections not open to tourism may be visited with permission from the Administration of the Aggtelek National Park.

One of the five specially protected caves located in Tornaszentandrás, the others being the 2nd chamber of the Upper Lake of Esztramos, the Caves of Caves No 2, Caves No 3 and the side chamber of the Rákóczi cave. Among the six specially protected caves of Mount Esztramos, one is the 2nd chamber of the Upper Lake of Esztramos, the other five are the 2nd chamber of the Upper Lake of Esztramos, the Fejér Valley Cave of the Eszztramós, the Caves No 2, Caves No 3 and the side chamber of the Rákóczi cave.

The cave was named after Ferenc II Rákóczi. The cave appears in the literature as Esztramosi Rákóczi 1st cave (Kraus 2003), Old Cave (Bertalan 1976), Rákóczi I (Old) cave (Bertalan, Kordos, Országh 1976), Rákóczi I cave (Kordos 1977), Rákóczi I-cave (Kordos 1978), Rákóczi 1st‑cave (MKBT Invitation 1977), Rákóczi cave group 1st cave (Bertalan 1976), Rákóczi Cave No. 1 (Takácsné, Eszterhás, Juhász, Kraus 1989), Rákóczi Cave no. 1 (Takácsné, Eszterhás, Juhász, Kraus 1989) and Rákóczi Caves No. I. (Kordos 1977). In 1982 the cave was first called Rákóczi 1st cave in the literature.

Research history

The discovery of the cave was caused by mining activities carried out on Esztramos Mountain, but this activity was also responsible for the destruction of many caves. On Esztramos, iron ore was extracted from the 1830s, and limestone mining was carried out from 1948. At the lowest level of the mine, the so‑called 7th level, during the excavation of a mining tunnel that started from a cut made in the 1920s, the previously unknown cave was entered in the 1950s. Compared with the tunnel, the cave, which began with a cross‑directional fissure system, was for a long time filled by the miners with the waste rock produced during the tunnel excavation and the work below, in order to completely block it as with many other voids, but the cave turned out to be so large that they abandoned their plan. This debris significantly complicated later underwater research work. The first map of the cave was drawn by István Venkovits in 1958.

The cave exploration research only began in the 1960s. In 1964 members of the Customs Guard Cave Research Group (led by Andor Szilvássy and Gyula Szilvássy) started the investigation of the cave then still called Old Cave. Descending to the debris pit they found a chamber and a clear‑water lake, which they explored with a rubber boat (Lake No. I). After some demolition they found another, larger chamber and a larger lake (Lake No. II). At the researchers' suggestion the cave was named after Ferenc II Rákóczi, as well as the Esztramos‑mountain cave group. Even in the 1960s intensive research of the lakes began, which received a significant boost when, also in the 7th level, a new mine adit revealed a new large cave, the Rákóczi No. 2 cave, whose lakes the researchers examined for an underwater connection.

The manuscript completed in 1976 and written by Károly Bertalan mentions that the Rákóczi cave group No. 1 cave (Old Cave) is located on Esztramos Mountain, in Tornaszentandrás. The cave entrance can be approached via mining tunnels, from the massive fissure bridge crossing one of the tunnels, at the 170‑metre level of the mine. According to the description at that time the cave is about 200 metres long and about 70 metres deep. It has dripstone formations and passages extending below the karst water level. The part of the manuscript describing the cave was written based on two publications.