Gutenfels Castle

Gutenfels Castle (German: Burg Gutenfels), historically known as Caub Castle or Kaub Castle, is a castle located 110m above the town of Kaub in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Gutenfels Castle was built in 1220. It first appears in historical documents in 1257 owned by the Falkenstein family. The castle along with the fortified town of Kaub became part of the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1277. Gutenfels Castle worked alongside Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in the middle of the Rhine and Kaub on the opposite bank to control the waterway and collect tolls for the Holy Roman Emperor. It has been known as Gutenfels Castle since being unsuccessfully besieged in 1504 by Landgrave William II of Hesse as part of the War of the Succession of Landshut.

In 1793 Gutenfels Castle was garrisoned by several companies of Palatine veterans when it surrendered relatively intact to French revolutionary forces. In 1803 it passed to the Duchy of Nassau with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The Nassau government planned to utilise the castle as a workhouse and prison however were ordered by Napoleon in 1806 to dismantle and disarm it. The castle was partially demolished between 1805 and 1807. Weapons and artifacts were distributed to nearby castles, the moat was filled in and walls were sold for stone in late 1807.

Prussia purchased the area in 1866 and ended this toll in 1867. The castle was rebuilt between 1889 and 1892.

The castle is part of the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site added in 2002. The castle transitioned from a hotel into private ownership in 2006.

Text adapted from “Gutenfels Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Gutenfels Castle ranks #2,699 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #201 of the 492 mapped in Germany. Founded 1220, it is older than 75% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,759 times in the last 60 days, more than 63% of the atlas. 23 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Koblenz, 33 km away. It is one of the 33 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Middle Rhine. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗