FERENCHALMY KATALIN
Országos Műemlékvédelmi Hivatal - Magyarország
National Authority of Historic Monuments - Hungary
Budavár polgárvárosának és az alatta húzódó barlangrendszernek - úgyis mint műemlék jelentőségű területnek és kultúrtájnak - térbeli szövetéről
The three dimensional system of the Burgher City and underlying cave-cellars as a significant historic monument
A budai Várhegy Budapest I. kerületében, a Duna jobb partján található ÉNy-DK irányban elnyúlóan. Fennsíkját 7-11 m vastag mészkőréteg fedi. Ennek alsó rétegeiben hévíz által oldott üregrendszer található, melyet a fennsíkra települt emberek többnyire kútfúrás során megtalálva, a mészkő alatti márgába mélyítve, az épületek pincéiből megközelítve használtak. A mai város alapítása az 1241-42. évi tatárjárás után kezdődött.
A várhegy barlangrendszerének felmérése 1882-ben kezdődött meg a veszélyek megismerése és elhárítása érdekében.
A barlangrendszer természeti értékeit és légoltalmi jelentőségét egy időben ismerték fel 1931-ben. Ez utóbbi miatt tártak fel és nyitottak össze az addig különálló egy-egy épületről megközelíthető barlangokat. így alakult ki a Várhegy és a hegyre települt város különleges térbeli szövete. A polgárváros teljes területe régészetileg védett. A barlangrend¬szer természeti védelem alatt áll, és mint ilyen, az állami tulajdonból ki nem adható.
A város és a barlangrendszer egymással szeres térbeli, műszaki, egymást kölcsönösen károsító viszonyban áll, amiből következően állandó műszaki. karbantartást igényel a barlangrendszer is. Nem áll rendelkezésre a szükséges pontossággal, részletezettséggel bíró felmérés. Nincsenek az ingatlanok es a barlangrendszer határai rögzítve, tehát nincsenek megállapítva a kölcsönösen ható szolgalmi szolgalmi jogok sem.
The Buda Castle Hill is located in the Ist district of Budapest on the right side of the Danube. The NW-SE striking hill has a travertine cap 7-11 m thickness. In the lower part of the travertine a cave system is found, which was dissolved by thermal waters. People living in the castle discovered numerous cavities during the digging of wells, and used them as cellars.
Archaeological investigations revealed that the plateau was inhabited as early as the Bronze Age. Excavations found traces of a fairly wealthy agricultural. settlement from the XI-XII-XIIIth centuries, below the Buda Castle, which itself is from the XIVth century.
The founding of the present city started after the Mongol invasion in 1241-42. On hearing of a second invasion in 1247-48, the city was built quickly on the basis of a well established plan al the former village location which was destroyed by the Mongols. The squares and the axes of the streets were also established at that time, and inhabitants get equal size lands.
The city was divided into two parts: a northern part was occupied by citizens and a southern part had a royal castle. The settlement on the plateau was surrounded by walls.
The Angevins started 10 build walls around the Castle which were further away and higher than those constructed during the reign of Béla the IVth, and this building activity was continued by Sigismund . As a result, the plateau of the Castle was enlarged. The walls were built 10-20 m outside the original! ones. The area between the old and the new wall was generally filled in, and sometimes cellars were built in this area.
Maps of the city after the end of the Turkish occupation show that despite the destruction of the buildings, the structure of the city at the end of the 11th century was approximately the same as it was
in the medieval ages, and has remained approximately the same even to the present day.
The caves, which had been used as wine cellars and were known from before the Turkish occupation, were filled with waste even by the Turks. During the Baroque reconstruction, building debris was also dumped here. By the end of the 19th century, the cavities were hardly accessible. There was no detailed knowledge about them, but they were a serious hazards
The survey of the Buda Castle cavity system started in 1882 in order to access and understand potential problems and their prevention.
The natural value of the caves and their importance as bomb shelters was realized at the same time in 1931. Service as a bomb shelter led to the independent cavities being connected. which led to the present Labyrinth system found below 3 streets of the five longitudinal ones. Below the other two streets the cavities remained separate .
In this way the special structure of the Castle Hill. the overlying city and the underlying cavity system developed. Castle Hill has special natural and constructional values and together with its technical and legal problems differs from the ether parts of the city.
The Buda Castle Hill and its surroundings, called the "Castle-skirt" is a historical area. It consists of 227 properties of individual topographical numbers, of which 183 are under protection. The whole area is archaeologically protected.
The cave system falls under nature conservation, which means that it is government owned. The entrances to the cave system, with a few exceptions, open from the cellars of buildings. The labyrinth system can be considered as a subsurface public area. As a result of the 1000 year common history with the city, there are historic relics in it too.
The city and the cave system have a common space distribution and physical links which affect each other. They also damage each other, therefore the caves also require a regular technical survey which is expensive. In addition, a detailed survey of the cavities is not available either. The boundaries of the buildings and the cavities are not determined, therefore the mutual rights are not fixed. It is extremely important that the municipality of the city considers the Castle Hill as a unique and uniform complex with all its surface and subsurface values. In future detailed management plans the cave system also has to be included to avoid further problems, e.g. impossible access from private areas.
