Remete-hegyi No 4 Cave

The Remete-hegy No. 4 cave is one of the caves located in the Remete Gorge in the Danube–Ipoly National Park.

Description

In the Budai Landscape Protection Area, in the outskirts of Remeteszőlős, in a specially protected area, in the forest, on the eastern side of the Remete Gorge, at the northern entrance of the gorge, on the steep and rocky side of Remete Hill, the cave entrance is at 332 m above sea level. The entrance is located in the middle cave level of the gorge (this level lies 70 m above the valley floor, at 340–350 m above sea level). Numbered from north to south in the Remete Gorge according to the rock chambers, the Remete-hegy stone niche, the Remete-hegy No. 2 cave, the Remete-hegy No. 3 cave and the Remete-hegy No. 4 cave are in the 1st rock chamber. The stone niche and the three small caves are situated almost on the same altitude. On the western side of the Remete-hegy stone niche cleft, separated by shallow water erosion, in forest‑covered rock walls, between the 1st rock chamber and the barren 2nd rock chamber, lies the Remete-hegy No. 4 cave.

The Remete-hegy No. 4 cave opens 7 m east of the Remete-hegy No. 3 cave, in the same cleft (the upper part of the cleft being more fractured), 6 m higher. The Remete-hegy No. 4 cave contains a lot of debris, is low and probably filled to a great depth. One can only stand in its rear, stalactite‑covered fissure. The Remete-hegy No. 3 cave and the Remete-hegy No. 4 cave approach each other very closely. They may be connected at a deeper level. Small dissolved cavities are present on both sides of the rock wall in both caves. No permission is required to visit the cave, which is accessible with basic cave‑walking equipment and is not sealed.

In 1984 the cave was first called the 4th cave of Remete Hill in the literature. The cave appears in the literature as the 4th cave (Horváth, Szunyogh 1971), the 2nd cave of Máriaremete (Bertalan 1976) and the 4th cave of Remetehegy (Bertalan 1976). The 14th cave of Remete Hill was mentioned in the literature of the 14th cave of Remete Hill as Remetehegyi IV. cave and Remete-hegyi IV. cave.

Research history

The 1877 Archaeological Bulletin mentions that the antiquities department of the Hungarian National Museum was enriched in November by 1 (animal) lower jaw, 2 bones and 3 pieces of pottery. These finds, which came from a rock shelter located near Remetemária in Buda, were donated to the museum by Lajos Lóczy. The 1904 Budapest Antiquities notes mention that the rock shelters of Remetemária were probably Stone Age pasture sites, from which Lajos Lóczy (Archaeological N., 168/1877) brought coarse pottery fragments to the Hungarian National Museum.

According to an article by Endre Kazay published in the 1915 edition of Turisták Lapja, Endre Kazay and Gyula (Julius) Tödter hiked to the Máriaremete gorge on an October day to inspect the gorge’s caves. Not far from the 7th cave of Remete Hill (the K. J. cave) they found a cave with an entrance 3 m wide and 60 cm high facing K. The 4.2 m long cave is not a stalactite formation but a collapse-type cavity. Kazay Endré’s team named it the 2nd cave. At the foot of the rock of the 4th cave of Remete Hill (2nd cave) they found another cavity called the 3rd cave. The publication shows the site map of the Máriaremete cave area, indicating the geographical location of the 2nd cave. The site map was drawn by Endre Kazay.

It first saw the light in 1937, and in a publication written by István Jablonkay it is mentioned that on the left wall of the Remete gorge, the spring caves are located 50 m from the stream (upper level) and 10 m higher (lower level). The spring cave situated on the upper level is less developed and uglier than the others, the other spring caves located on the upper level, which can be observed along the entire length of the gorge. If a cave’s erosion base moves downwards, the cave’s water system follows. This can happen, for example, when water leaves the old transitional cave and the old spring cave, and then, descending through thin cracks in the rock, creates a new cave system. In this case a new spring cave opens beneath the old one, at the new level of the subsided erosion base. The old upper entrance is then broken by the remaining karst breccia. The abandoned spring caves lining the left wall of the Remete gorge are beautiful examples of this process. The erosion base of these caves was the stream of the cave whose collapse formed the gorge. The caves on the upper level indicate the former, pre‑segment‑change height of the gorge‑cave stream.

In the chapter written by Ferenc Tompa in the 1942‑published book *History of Budapest* it is mentioned that after Flóris Rómer, Géza Nagy also noted that coarse pots emerged from the rock hollows of Remetemária, which probably originate from the polished stone age. Sándor Leél‑Őssy gave a lecture at the Hungarian Hydrological Society meeting of 9 March 1949. The topic of the lecture was the Seven‑hole. The lecture also mentioned the other caves of the Remete gorge. Sándor Leél‑Őssy gave a lecture at the society’s specialist meeting of 9 November 1949, in which he presented the caves of the Remete gorge.

The Hydrological Gazette 1950 volume, numbers 3–4, published the text of the lecture given by Leél-Őssy Sándor on March 9, 1949. The title of the publication is The Seven‑Hole Cave of Remete‑hegy. The study mentions that the currently high‑located but already dry, dying spring caves of Remete‑hegy were formed in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene. (Cave under the seven holes, Remete‑hegyi‑kőfülke and several other smaller unfinished or broken caves, as well as a spring chamber.) Afterwards, due to the young tectonic uplift and the climatic origin of the erosion base’s incision, the karst water level of Remete‑hegy also fell and the caves that had become dry began to die out.