N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Buda - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

Mine into monastery - the Bátori Cave

of finds from the Neolithic, copper, bronze and iron ages. The first early medieval finds are dated to the 13th century, while the particularly large number of finds from the 14th—16th centuries - possibly explained by the proximity of the Pauline monastery of Budaszentlőrinc - indicated busy human activity here.

So that the greatest possible amount of the "complex’' ore containing gold and silver in the hydrothermal limonite filling could be brought to surface, the cave was opened to mining. It is traces of such mining activity that are preserved by the steps, artificial widenings and bored holes in the mined section of the cave. Although several archival references have been discovered by György Vajna, who has been doing research on the mine since 1960, the precise date when mining first began here is hard to establish. What is certain is that the finds discovered in the deepest spot of the mining section can be dated to the 15th century. The idea of reopening the cave for the purposes of mining was raised in the 18th century. There are written documents proving that iron and silver were mined here at the time.

■ Section oh a mine- óhajt in the Bdtori Cave

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