Badacsony

▪ butte, Hungary

      basalt-covered residual butte, 1,437 ft (438 m) in height, on the north bank of Lake Balaton (Balaton, Lake) in the Balaton Highlands of western Hungary. The butte bears witness to the original level of the basalt layer that formed at the end of the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 to 1.6 million years ago).

      In shape, Badacsony resembles a low truncated cone. The edge of this butte is continuously eroded, leaving huge standing pillars known as basaltic organ pipes. There have been vineyards on the southern slopes of the hill since Roman times. Their wines, especially the Graumönch and a Hungarian type called Kéknyelű (“Blue Stalk”), once were renowned throughout Europe. The hill and its environs, commemorated in many poems and works of art, are part of the Balaton Highlands National Park.

* * *