Ziribári Cave

Ziribári Cave is one of the caves located in the Pilis Mountains in Csobánka, within the Danube–Ipoly National Park. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

It is situated 40 m from the Ziribár DK peak, near the steep ridge that runs down from the mountain, to the right of the ridge trail (running from Csobánka to Pilisszántó) that passes along the Ziribár ridge. Of the two entrances of the cave, one is spacious, shaft‑like and easily climbable. The other is narrow, fox‑hole‑like, and can only be traversed by crawling. The cave’s horizontal, slightly ascending passage was formed along an EN–SW fault, under phreatic conditions due to a water‑rich solution, in Upper Triassic Dachstein limestone. Small pea‑sized stones can be observed in the cave. Its fill consists of rock debris, clay and forest soil.

Through the upper, shaft‑like entrance many tree branches fall into the cave’s horizontal passage, and various pieces of litter are also found there, which are probably thrown in by passing tourists to determine the depth of the shaft. The cave passage is easily walkable with basic equipment and no permission is required to visit the cave.

In 1967 the cave was first called Ziribári Cave in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the names Ziribár Cave (Kadić 1952), Ziribári cave (Schőnviszky 1937), Ziribári‑zsomboly (Mezei 1967), Ziribári zsomboly (Bertalan 1976) and Ziribár‑zsomboly (Miczek 1991).

Research History

The book *Budapest Duna‑jobbparti környéke* published in 1920 mentions that on the barren, limestone summit of Ziribár DK there is an unexplored cave. The 1924 publication *Budapest Duna‑jobbparti környéke* repeats the part of the 1920 book that mentions Ziribári Cave. The 1 August 1929 issue of *Turistaság és Alpinizmus* states that the Gyopár Tourist Association’s speleologists have beautiful tasks awaiting them in the exploration of the recently discovered Ziribári Cave. In the 1931 yearbook of *Turisták Lapja*, in a study by Imre Gábor Bekey, it is mentioned that after the excavation of Csévi Cave, research on the other caves of the Pilis Mountains beyond the prehistoric period no longer seemed reasonable. The small water well on the top of Ziribár is not, however, because it is only a geographical curiosity.

The Tourist's Journal 1937 volume states that according to the Pilis tourist guide the Ziribári Cave is still an unexplored cave located on the Ziribár DK summit. It has not been found so far. The 1948 Hydrological Gazette published that with the protrusion of Hosszú-hegy the karst water level descended in Hosszú-hegy and the source series of the Ziribári, Hosszúhegyi, Pilisszántói and Szurdokvölgyi caves ceased to operate. The guidebook published in 1948, written by István Szegő, mentions that on the Ziribár summit there is an interesting and unexplored cave with an entrance about 2 m in diameter that deepens vertically downwards. In Ottokár Kadić’s manuscript completed in 1952 it is written that the Ziribár cave, according to the Barcza–Thirring tourist guide, is an unexplored cave on the Ziribár DK summit that had not been investigated until then and therefore lacks a detailed description. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on two literary works.

According to the study published in the 1953 Geographic Bulletin, the Ziribári cave is at the top of the Ziribár DK summit, at an altitude of 400 m above sea level. The blocked small cave is shaft‑like and 1–1.5 m wide. No dripstone or limestone tufa can be seen in the vicinity. It ends narrow at a depth of 2.5 m. It deepens into karstic Dachstein limestone rocks. Its entrance faces the DK. Its origin is uncertain, it may be a small water‑draining cave. Currently it is probably not active, as it is located on the summit. It may have opened as a fissure or possibly a spring cave. However, there is also no evidence for the latter. The cave is likely a clogged shaft cave or a small sinkhole. Its present form never had a water collector. In figure 3 of the study, on the cross‑section of the Ziribári basin, the cave on the Great Ziribár summit is marked.

The book *The World of Caves* published in 1962 mentions that the Ziribár Cave is a tiny, short, almost completely blocked cave located on the top of Ziribár. According to the *Pilis Guidebook* published in 1967, there is a short, very blocked, 6–7 m long and deepening cavity on the top of Ziribár. It is also known as Ziribári‑zsomboly, Ziribári‑cave. In the *Pilis Guidebook* that appeared in 1974, in the list of caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20), it is mentioned that among the caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains there is the Ziribári‑zsomboly (Ziribári‑cave). The section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains includes a description of Ziribári‑zsomboly (Ziribári‑cave) that matches the description of Ziribári‑cave presented in the 1967 guidebook.

In his manuscript completed in 1976, Károly Bertalan writes that the Ziribári cave located in the Pilis Mountains, in the Pilis ridge, in Csobánka, has another name, Ziribári zsomboly. From the summit of Nagy‑Ziribár it is 200 m to the entrance facing the DK, on a small clearing at about 400 m above sea level. The cave of uncertain origin, 7 m long, 2.5 m deep and 1–1.5 m wide, is heavily blocked. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on four publications. In the *Hungarian Speleology Bibliography* cave name index compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky and published in 1976, the cave in the Pilis Mountains is mentioned under the name Ziribári‑cave. The name index lists one literary work that deals with the cave. In 1977 Peter Havas and Peter Szablyár surveyed the cave and, based on the survey, Peter Szablyár prepared the floor plan map of Ziribári‑cave and a longitudinal section map with ten cross‑sections.