Róka-hegyi Pillér Cave

The Róka-hegyi Pillar Cave is one of the caves located in the Budai Landscape Protection Zone of the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in Budapest District III.

Description

On the southeasternmost mountain of the Pilis range, Róka-hegy, in the middle of one of the mountain’s former, no longer cultivated stone quarries, within a nature protection area, on the side of the rock tower called Bástya, the cave entrance opens. The 2.5 m long cave’s spectacular horizontal axis entrance can be reached using rope‑technical equipment or by difficult free climbing, but no equipment is needed to view the cave entrance without permission.

The cavity was formed in Triassic Dachstein limestone by dissolution below the karst water level. Because of its difficult approach it is almost untouched. On some points of the walls pea‑sized stones can be observed. On the floor mainly rock debris occurs. The formation of the cave is indicated by the pea‑sized stones and the spherical‑bulbous structure. It may be connected to the Róka-hegyi Poros Cave.

The Róka-hegyi Pillar Cave received its name because the rock tower in which it opens is pillar‑like.

Research history

The cave was revealed as a result of stone mining. The Budapest encyclopedia, which saw the light of day in 1973, mentions that from the depressions of stone 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 by László Sásdi on 22 March 1997, and based on the survey the cave’s floor plan map was compiled. The map presents the cave at a scale of 1:100.