For
hundreds of years poets, novelists and painters have been calling the Badacsony
and its vicinity the most beautiful landscape in Hungary. One of the greatest
achievements of the Hungarian nature conservation movement is that the basalt
quarries opened here in 1903 have finally been closed down. The famous playwrighter
Ferenc Herczeg made powerful efforts in the Upper House in the 1920s to have
them closed. A press campaign was also launched, but the last quarries where
only finally closed in 1964. Those on the Gulács and Tóti Hills were abandoned
at the end of World War II and in the early 1950s. The Szentgyörgy and Csobánc
Hills are more fortunate: their basalt was not found suitable for building purposes,
so there are only small wounds on their flanks.
The
basalt mountains of the area are not only unique and picturesque geological
relics, they are also the habitat of many rare plants and animals. In addition
to the natural values it is worth to mention the vineyards dating back to the
Roman times, the architectural relics of the hills and villages: ruins of castles,
churches, palaces, as well as the relics of popular architecture.
The
monadnocks are peculiarly shaped results of the volcanic activity towards the
end of the Pannonian Age. At the edges of the Csobánc, Szentgyörgy and Badacsony
Hills, which from a distance resemble coffins, typical formations of solidifying
basalt: the basalt columns can be seen. The most beautiful examples are the
Stone Gate of Badacsony and the basalt organs of the Szentgyörgy Hill. At the
slopes of Badacsony, huge rock-glaciers and block fields are to be found, where
the large-leaf linden and the mahaleb cherry forest can just establish themselves.
The picturesque cones of the Gulács, Tóti and Vár Hills resemble sugar loafs.
Several botanical rarities live in the extreme climatic and
geological conditions of the basalt mountains. The abundance of the yellow golden
alyssium on the rock and quarry sides is picturesque. A unique acidophilic ash-beech
forest occurs on the rocky escarpments of the Badacsony; in its beech forests
we find cyclamen, while in the hornbeam-oak groves hepatica, black bryony, broomrape
grow. On the sunny rocks of the Szentgyörgy Hill a small population of Cheilanthes
marantae (unique in Hungary) blooms, with caterack and Lumnitzer carnation.
Several local subspecies of sorbtrees find habitat in the unavailable rock cracks.
The flower stock of Csobánc is enriched by Pulsatilla grandis, Saxifragas and
lilac. On the top of the Tóti Hill a picturesque flower field is situated: Orlaya
grandiflora mixed with iris, Pulsatillas and Caryophyllaceae. In the cracks
of the basalt columns the small scrubs of Cotoneaster matrensis line up.
At the eastern edge of the area on Permian sandstone the calluna
provides a red flower carpet at the end of summer; on the rocks juniper and
yellow hawkweed species bloom. On the plains, remains of ancient marshes contain
several botanical rarities. At Raposka we find marsh gladiolus and orchids;
next to Káptalantóti there is a habitat of the 1 m tall and odorous large pink
(that occurs less and less), accompanied with the blue flowered marsh gentian.
On the rocks and in the forests of the basalt hills several
rare birds nest: raven, red footed falcon, rock bird etc. In the reeds below
the Szigliget Hill the protected greylag goose breeds.
The
ruins of the forts of Csobánc and Szigliget, the lavishly rich Tarányi Cellar
from 1780, the Lengyel Chapel (1760), the Szigliget Castle and manor, the cellar
of Flórián Szabó at Rókarántó of Szigliget, richly ornamented in popular style,
the chapels on the vineyard hills (Csobánc, Kisapáti, Badacsonylábdi), the nicely
carved crucifixes at the crossroads, the ruins of churches (Csobáncszegi, Sziglitet-Avasi,
Káptalantóti-Sabar Mountain), the dignified manor of Róza Szegedy on the Badacsony,
are all precious relics of Hungarian architecture and history.
Balaton Uplands National Park Directorate
8200 Veszprém, Vár u. 31.
Tel: +36-88/427-855
Tel/fax: +36-88/427-056
E -mail: bfnp@ktm.x400gw.itb.hu
Web: www.bfnpi.hu
Photographer:
László Molnár
VIA Stúdió Ltd.
Phone: + 36 20/965-7783
)
)
For
hundreds of years poets, novelists and painters have been calling the Badacsony
and its vicinity the most beautiful landscape in Hungary. One of the greatest
achievements of the Hungarian nature conservation movement is that the basalt
quarries opened here in 1903 have finally been closed down. The famous playwrighter
Ferenc Herczeg made powerful efforts in the Upper House in the 1920s to have
them closed. A press campaign was also launched, but the last quarries where
only finally closed in 1964. Those on the Gulács and Tóti Hills were abandoned
at the end of World War II and in the early 1950s. The Szentgyörgy and Csobánc
Hills are more fortunate: their basalt was not found suitable for building purposes,
so there are only small wounds on their flanks.)
)
)
)
)