At the International Mountain Day event of the Lushan UNESCO Global Geopark in China, the poster of our transnational geopark was also viewed by residents of the Far Eastern sister geoparks.
The Ipolytarnóc Fossils Nature Reserve, managed by the Bükk National Park Directorate, is the gateway to the transnational Novohrad-Nógrád UNESCO Global Geopark, so it is no wonder that our New Year's greeting card featured a winter image of the Miocene Park. Our sister geopark, the Chinese Lushan Geopark, which is the very first member of the Global Geopark Network, also wished for a Happy New Year, and later they sent a news, supplemented by photos of an event from last December to us. During the International Mountain Day educational events, students and teachers from Lushan Geopark School organized an exhibition to promote our twin parks.
The two geoparks are not only connected by the protection of geological heritage, but also by their special landscape elements, which reveal a spiritual connection. One such example is poetry. Our poet, Sándor Petőfi, who is also known in China, was inspired by the sight of Salgó Castle rising from the basalt plateau of Medves while visiting the region of our geopark. Li Tai-po (Li Bai), one of China's greatest poets, also sang of the beauty of Lushan. In our geoparks, geological and cultural heritage are closely intertwined.
About the sister geopark relationship: At the initiative of Lushan, the sister geopark cooperation was signed in a ceremonial setting in China in 2019 by Dr. Gergely Horváth, our authorized representative, who later gave a separate online presentation about his experiences in China to the employees of the Miocene Park.
