Skip to content

In Remembrance of a Flood Multi-cache

Hidden : 4/12/2004
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Related Web Page

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

This multi-cache is dedicated to the memory of the great flood of 1879 in Szeged, which killed 150 people and left 75,000 homeless, destroyed 5458 houses and left only 265 relatively undamaged in the city. The coordinates of the cache are N46°15.ABC' E20°D.EFG', and to convert the letters into numbers you'll need to go to seven places and answer the questions there.

These places are all connected to either the devastation or the re-building. The microcache (a film canister) is hidden in the middle of the city where people are always around so it's not easy to take it out and put it back unnoticed. But it is possible - on a rainy Sunday morning or in the small hours…

Here are the places and the questions:

A: Go to N46°16.448' E20°07.965'. This is where a dyke built hastily on the railroad tracks broke in a storm at 2 o'clock a.m. 12 March 1879. The Tisza river had broken its levee 20 km north from here seven days earlier destroying villages in its way. It is the only point of the seven that is accessible on foot or bike only. See the waypoint for parking. The question: How many T's (not necessarily capitals) are there in the first row of the text that is carved on the memorial?

Alternative A: Go to N46°14.896' E20°08.061'. Use this place to get the number of Stage A if you don't want to go to the remote stage A. This is Kormányos Street in Lower Town. How many G's are there on the memorial plaque? (It is convenient to go there after visiting Stage F)

B: Go to N46°15.602' E20°09.504'. You are in Felsovaros - Upper Town, near the church and not far from the famous Pick Salami factory. You'll find a simple memorial plaque on a house here, which shows the level of the flood water. It is rather low now because the ground level was raised after the flood. The question is again: How many T's are there in the first row of the text?

C: Go to N46°15.030' E20°09.121'. You are on the riverside. There is a strange statue here of a local kind of dragonflies named Tiszavirag or Tisza flower. They are a symbol of short life because they live above the water for only about 10 minutes spending their time with flying and reproducing then dying into the river. Under the statue, you'll find the historical marks of the old record levels of the Tisza. The question: Eight hundred and how many cm (80? cm) was the level on 5 March 1879?

D: Go to N46°14.734' E20°09.000'. Still on the riverside. This is the biggest monument of the flood. The countries listed here helped financially to rebuild the city. A new city plan was designed with ring roads and avenues meeting in the centre. The ring roads were named after the capital cities of those countries that helped most. Although the United States was the fifth donor on the list, Washington was omitted probably because the Szegediens could not have spelled and pronounced it. The question: How many coats of arms and logos are there on the black marble blocks (not counting the EU logo carved recently {March 2009})?

E: Go to N46°14.866' E20°08.870'. Here you'll find a relief and the Trianon entrance to Dom Square. The square and the cathedral were built after the flood and the cathedral is called Votive Church because the city council pledged to erect a great church if the city was rebuilt. The smaller tower in front of it is about 900 years old. It was found inside the old church when that was brought down to clear the square. There are a hundred sculptures in the Pantheon of Hungarian heroes including Albert Szent-Györgyi who was awarded the Nobel prize for biology while working in one of these buildings in the 1930's. The question: How many people are there on the relief of the founders of the university?

F: Go to N46°14.430' E20°08.185'. You are in Alsovaros - Lower Town. The gothic church was completed in 1503, a few years earlier than the King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England (a twin city of Szeged), which is very similar to this church but with a lot more stained-glass windows. The famous portrait of the Black Madonna is in this church. The church was once a hospital for French soldiers who served Napoleon. A carved sign on the wooden door of the vestry shows the flood water level. The question: How many T's are there under the word MUEMLEK in the first two rows of the plaque near the entrance?

G: Go to N46°15.235' E20°08.626'. You are back in downtown. This is the old Jewish church. The new, monumental synagogue, which can be visited, is next to it. There are two similar plaques on the wall of the old church close to the ground showing the flood water level, one in Hungarian, the other in Hebrew. The question: How many words are there under the horizontal line that shows the level on the Hungarian plaque?

The cache is not far from here.
Good luck.

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ba vafvqr jnyy bs jurryoneebj.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)