The Palatinate castle of Guttenberg is very probably the place where Ulrich von Guttenburg is mentioned in 1174. Whether he is the minstrel Ulrich von Guttenberg mentioned in the Mannessische Lieder manuscript cannot be clearly proven. The first reliable evidence of the castle's existence dates back to 1246. Guttenberg Castle appears among the imperial castles of the Trifels, which Isengard von Falkenstein handed over to King Konrad IV on behalf of her husband, Reichstruchsess Philipp von Falkenstein. The imperial fief was later confiscated again by King Rudolf of Habsburg. In 1292, we find the Counts of Leiningen in co-ownership of the castle. There is also evidence of the Fleckenstein and Otterbach family's ownership rights. From 1292, Guttenberg was in the possession of the Leiningens as an imperial estate. As a result of the Leiningian division treaty of 1317, the castle became the sole property of Jofried I, the founder of the Leiningen-Hardenburg line. The Electoral Palatinate, among others, held shares in the Ganerbenburg. Until it was destroyed in the Peasants' War in 1525 by a detachment of peasants from Lorraine, the castle remained in the possession of the Electors Palatine and the Dukes of Palatinate-Zweibrücken as a condominium. From 1559 until the French Revolution, Guttenberg was in the possession of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. The castle, located in the Mundat Forest, which had been claimed by France since 1945, only came to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1985. (Jens Friedhoff)
The rest of the keep and the wall on the upper castle can be roughly dated to the 2nd half of the 12th century or around 1200. The masonry of the lower castle cannot be dated more precisely. The first clearing and securing measures took place in 1874. The castle ruins were conserved in 1989-95 (Dieter Barz).
The remains of a keep and a humpback ashlar wall have been preserved in the upper castle. In the lower castle, only parts of the curtain wall with a gate remain. Traces (beam holes) of multi-storey buildings can be seen on the west side of the castle rock. (Dieter Barz)