1702 · 1780 The lords move down, and the roofs burnPáni sa sťahujú dolu a strechy zhoria

From the beginning of the eighteenth century the Csákys built themselves comfortable manor houses in the valley — Hodkovce right under the hill in 1702, then Bijacovce, Spišský Hrhov, Kluknava, Iliašovce — and took worked stone from the castle to build them. What stayed on the rock was a small garrison, a granary and a store: the fortress no longer defended anything anyone needed defending. In 1780 fire took everything above the vaults and the garrison walked away for good. The cause has never been settled: a lightning strike is the version most often repeated locally, and the literature also carries a deliberate burning to lower the tax on a roofed building, and an accident during illicit distilling. Nobody re-roofed it, which is why the largest castle in Slovakia is crossed under open sky.Od začiatku 18. storočia si Čákiovci stavali pohodlné kaštiele v podhradí — v roku 1702 Hodkovce priamo pod kopcom, potom Bijacovce, Spišský Hrhov, Kluknavu, Iliašovce — a kamenné články na ne brali z hradu. Na skale ostala malá posádka, sýpka a sklad: pevnosť už nebránila nič, čo by bolo treba brániť. V roku 1780 oheň zobral všetko nad klenbami a posádka natrvalo odišla. Príčinu nikto nikdy neuzavrel: najčastejšie sa miestne opakuje úder blesku, v literatúre sa objavuje aj úmyselné podpálenie, aby sa znížila daň zo zastrešenej budovy, a nešťastie pri pálení pálenky. Strechy už nikto nevrátil — a preto sa najväčším hradom na Slovensku chodí pod holým nebom.