Remete Cave

Remete Cave is located in the Budai Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in the outskirts of Remeteszőlős, in the Remete Gorge. Because of its archaeological significance, it is one of Hungary's specially protected caves, and not only archaeological but also paleontological finds have been discovered there. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

It is located in the outskirts of Remeteszőlős, on the eastern side of the Remete Gorge. It opens beneath the Upper Cave of the Remete Valley. It is not far from the administrative border of Budapest. It is close to the gorge’s exit onto Nagykovácsi Road. In the lower cave level of the gorge (this level lies 10 m above the valley floor, at an altitude of 280–290 m a.s.l.) only Remete Cave is present. It can be reached via a marked footpath branching off from the blue‑band route of the National Blue Trail that runs through the gorge. Opposite the former stone quarry, in the forest at the foot of a rock wall, about 10 m above the stream level, there is a natural, horizontal, east‑west oriented, unsealed entrance 5.5 m high and 3 m wide. The entrance is visible from the tourist trail, although sometimes it is hidden by foliage. The cave’s location is marked on tourist maps (with a cave symbol and the cave’s name). It is freely accessible; at most a lamp is needed for exploring the cave.

This is the best‑known cave in the area because of its proximity to the tourist trail. It received its name after the hermit who moved here following the dissolution of the Pauline Order in 1782. According to E. Bereghy, the hermit lived here and also died here. But it is also possible that hermits used it already in the Middle Ages. Along a tectonic fault line a Triassic Dachstein limestone source cave, now no longer active, was formed. It developed in very fractured rock and dissolution traces can be seen in many places on its walls. Of the three well‑separated cave‑formation levels on the eastern side of the gorge, it was created in the lowest, i.e. the youngest, level. In fact it consists only of a large entrance hall about 25 m long, 6–7 m high and wide, and a corroded, low chamber opening from it. Outside the entrance there is another passage leading from the entrance chamber to the surface. It extends 32 m horizontally, has a floor area of 230 m² and a volume of 796 m³. Occasionally homeless people live in it.

During the research that began in 1949, 13 layers were distinguished in their filling. The finds from the upper nine layers unfortunately became mixed because the excavations were not carried out precisely. Their assessment was compiled by Miklós Gábori. The oldest tool, a microlith blade belonging to the Pilisszántó culture, came from layer 10. Many Paleolithic finds were excavated, such as flaked stone tools, stone hammers and grinding stones. A bronze balance pan 7 cm in diameter was found, which is either of Roman or medieval origin.

In addition to the pottery shards, numerous bone tools were also uncovered, e.g., arrowheads, antlers, elk antlers and wild boar neck vertebrae. It is likely that this cave was the findspot of an undecorated, open bronze strap bracelet from the 11th–13th centuries. Interestingly, it is said that here was found the 74 cm long, 63 cm high, 11 cm thick limestone tablet carved by Bálint Kuzsinszky at the local steward’s place, depicting Mithras slaying a bull.

In this cave archaeologists in our country uncovered the most complete stratigraphic sequence, whose finds from the Stone Age through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman period and the medieval period preserve almost every memory of the cultures of the human groups that lived on this landscape up to the present day.

Among the finds in the cave were bones of reindeer, aurochs, brown bear, gray wolf, rhinoceros, elk and cave bear. Reindeer bone has so far been recovered from only seven Hungarian caves: from Király-kúti-zsomboly, Lengyel Cave, Pes-kő Cave, Pilisszántó stone niche, Puskaporos stone niche, Remete-hegy stone niche and Suba-lyuk.

In 1915 the cave was mentioned for the first time in literature under the name Remete Cave. The cave appears in literature as cave No. 5 (Horváth, Szunyogh 1971), Máriaremete Cave (Kadić 1952), Great Remete Cave (Thirring 1900), Great Remete Cave (Bertalan 1976), Great Remete Cave (Szabó 1879), Remete Cave (Thirring 1900), Remete Cave (M. P. 1920), Remete‑hegyi 5th cave (Kordos 1984), Remetehegyi 5th cave (Bertalan 1976), Remetehegyi‑Alsó Cave (Szablyár 2004) and Remetehegyi Cave (1911).

In the 19th century

The publication issued in 1858, written by József Szabó, states that Liász limestone in Pest‑Budá occurs only in thin layers in a few places. One such place is on Remete‑hegy between Hidegkút and Nagykovácsi, precisely at the slope of Remete Cave, where the layering corresponds to the general dip of the hill. The 1877 Archaeological Bulletin mentions that the antiquities collection of the Hungarian National Museum was enriched in November by one (animal) lower jaw, two bones and three pottery shards. These finds, which came from a rock fissure near Budai Remetemária, were donated to the museum by Lajos Lóczy. According to the study published in 1879 by József Szabó, there are two caves on the side of Remete‑hegy. The larger, designated K‑i, is Remete Cave, the smaller, designated Ny‑i, is the Remete‑hegy stone niche. Remete Cave is almost 8 m deep and about 5 m high.

The 1897 Budapest Antiquities mentions that there is a rectangular limestone relief slab in the Aquincum Museum, which is 74 cm long, 63 cm high and 11 cm thick. The relief depicts Mithras slaying the bull. It was brought by Bálint Kuzsinszky from the estate steward of Lajos Tisza of Nagykovácsi. The estate steward found the slab in a densely forested valley behind the settlement, allegedly in a cave. The study contains a photograph on which the sculpted slab can be seen. In the book that appeared in 1899, which is about the chapel of Máriaremete, it is readable that on the side of the mountain rising behind the chapel there is a cut Remete cave. The cave near Máriaremete is connected with the word Mária‑Remete.