Germany · Restored
Gutenfels Castle
Gutenfels Castle (Burg Gutenfels) is a medieval hilltop castle built in 1220, located about 110 m above the town of Kaub on the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Historically it worked with the downstream Pfalzgrafenstein to control river traffic; the site is part of the Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage area and today exists as a restored private property.
First raised
1220
Its prime
1892
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1892
The shape it held in its prime.
Perched on a steep, terraced vineyard slope above the Rhine, the castle presents a compact medieval silhouette: a tall rectangular, flat-topped keep rising behind a three-storey rectangular residential block with a row of three arched windows on its façade. A crenellated curtain wall runs along the terrace edge and includes a projecting small round watch-tower with a low conical roof at the left. Masonry is grey-brown stone; terraces of dry-stone vineyard walls descend the slope.
Its story
The story of Gutenfels Castle.
Gutenfels Castle stands 110 metres above the town of Kaub on the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate, and was historically known as Caub or Kaub Castle. Built in 1220, it first appears in the documentary record in 1257, owned by the Falkenstein family. Its business was the river: Gutenfels worked in tandem with Pfalzgrafenstein downstream to control traffic passing through the gorge.
In 1803 the castle passed to the Duchy of Nassau with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and in late 1807 it was stripped — weapons and artefacts distributed to nearby castles, the moat filled in, the walls sold for stone. It survived the dismantling, and today stands restored as a private property within the Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage area.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1892.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Gutenfels Castle — including 1 interior: inner courtyard beside the palas façade. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Gutenfels Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1892 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Gutenfels Castle.
The families that held Gutenfels Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Falkenstein
First recorded in 1257 in the ownership of the Falkenstein family.
