Gerecse TK - Duna-Ipoly NP (sitios de interés)
Descripción del sitio
| Gerecse Landscape Protection Area Territory of the protected area: 8 739 hectares, of which 1 365 hectares are under increased protection. Location: The protected area consists of the central parts of Gerecse mountain. Visitors: Freely accessible for visitors (even the areas under increased protection may be toured along the defined routes). Management: Directorate of the Danube–Ipoly National Park. The base rock of Gerecse mountain is the lime stone formed in the Mesozoic, in the Triassic and the Jurassic periods, broken up by the faults of the surface, thus the parts of the mountain are divided from each other by faults from the northwest to the southeast. The limestone of Gerecse is famous, partly because intact lime shells of creatures living millions of years ago can be found in it much more frequently than the average thus people with interest can obtain beautiful impressions with a relatively small investment: the traces of giant Protozoa can be observed in the limestone of the Triassic period (naturally, magnifying glass will come handy) while marvellous lime shells of ancient cephalopods can be found in the deposits from the Jurassic period. Another celebrated feature of the limestone is its magnificent red-deep red-rusty colour of marble-like hues of changing intensity used for centuries as "red marble" of Piszke and Tardos for the construction of numerous famous buildings (perhaps the most famous is the palace of Visegrád). The limestone of Gerecse with its highest point at six hundred metres and karst formations offers entrancing sights (e.g. the Pesk?) and hides more than thirty caves, there are smaller holes and recesses just as well as real caves (the largest and most famous with its more than 240 metres long galleries can be found at Nagy-Pisznice). Finds from the stone age were discovered in several caves, for example in the Szelim cave over Tatabánya (which can be spotted from even the road), and in the Jankovich cave (where the skeletons of the animals killed by the early man were found as well). Gerecse and its vicinity were covered with unbroken forestland until the Turkish occupation that started to change after the Turkish rule. The inner parts of the inselberg are still characterized by blocks of forests and rich fauna. Its most beautiful parts are under increased protection, therefore visitors must not leave the tourist paths. These areas can be mainly found on Nagy-Somlyó, Nagy-Pisznice, Lábas and Asszony hills.  Though the plants of Gerecse resemble those of Vértes and Pilis, it is not so rich, which is usually explained by the experts as a result of the more homogeneous soil-forming rock and the less varied microclimatic conditions. The most characteristic wood communities of the mountain are the oaks mixed wit Turkey oaks and the oaks mixed with hornbeam in the cooler parts, on the shadowy slopes of valleys, while beeches are found in the higher zones and on the northern slopes (they are the so called extrazones because they live below their usual altitude). White oaks cover the quickly warming up exposed southern sides and mahaleb cherry karst scrub groves (where the soil is poorer) which are of splendid sight when in blossom in spring. In addition to the mahaleb cherry another companion of karst scrub groves is the smoke tree, the bright red of which is a memorable experience at the beginning of autumn. The more exposed parts are covered with lime tree fragment slope groves, the characteristic plants of the sunny lawn are the dwarf sedge and the fescue sp. (Festuca rupicola). The bare parts are covered with dolomite rock lawns and calciphilous rock lawn slope steppe meadows, species of the Alföld (e.g. purple golden-drop) are frequently found on the side towards the plain in Northwestern Hungary. The feather-grass, Pasque flower, dwarf iris (Iris pumila) grow in several parts on the mountain, but the outstandingly valuable plant of Gerecse is the relict from the ice age, the fennel (Ferula sadleriana) on Nagy-Pisznice, which can be found in few places of the country. Gerecse also hosts the rare bird's-foot trefoil sp. (Lotus borbasii) and the cockspur (Echinops ruthenicus), the valuable spirea communities can be found on Nagy-Somlyó. The avifauna in Gerecse is very rich, almost one hundred species provenly nest here, among them birds of prey under increased protection like the saker falcon, the imperial eagle, booted eagle, or the also rare colourful rock thrush, the raven, and the wheatear (Oananthe oananthe). Among the mammals the wild cat, the pine marten can be mentioned, several species of bats hatch in the caves. Unfortunately the moufflon naturalized here for hunting purposes does a great deal of damage here just like in many other places, because it grazes up the valuable rocky lawn to its stem. The cultural history of Gerecse is also important. The villages along the periphery of the mountain Agostyán, Tardos, Vértestolna are valuable from ethnographic aspects. There is a beautiful arboretum near Agostyán with bald-cypresses, cedar trees, giant redwood trees and other rare species. Bajna is famous for the palace of Móric Sándor called the devil rider. http://www.foek.hu/zsibongo/termve/tk/angtk/gerecse.htm |