Discovery of underground labyrinth halts street work in Eger

A new cellar system has been discovered in the wine town of Eger (Heves County) during work on an underground drainage system, reports nol.hu.

The street was closed due to risk of collapse, because the rock the crypt was dug into is made from pumice, which becomes soft when exposed to water. The cellar is at a depth of 1.5 to three meters, has eleven branches and is 50 meters long.

Maps of the town, which was settled in Roman times, show a cellar system 103 kilometers in length, but it is widely believed that much of the underground network is still undiscovered.

Residents of a building on one street in the town complained for decades that they could never heat up one of their rooms. When the building was later demolished, it turned out that there was a five-meter deep hole under the room. In a separate incident three years ago, the backyard of a house collapsed into a several-meter deep cellar.

Work on the underground utilities in the area of the new discovery was suspended, and the town needs Ft 8.5 million (over €34,000) to shore up the street. The municipality hopes to get the necessary funds from the ministry of local governments, said Gyula Gadavics, head of the chief engineer's office.

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