2017 marked the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation. In the Neckar valley and the Kraichgau, the Reformation found a strongly growing group of followers, especially after Luther’s appearance at the Augustinian convent in Heidelberg in 1518. At Guttenberg Castle the Protestant teaching was preached from Christmas 1521. This makes the castle, together with the villages that belonged to it at that time, the first Protestant sermon in the area of today’s Badische Landeskirche.
The then lord of the castle Dietrich von Gemmingen promoted and protected together with his two brothers in the turbulent years many reformers on Guttenberg and in the surrounding villages. The family also played an important role in the theological discussions between the followers of Zwingli and Luther. The support of the Protestant side in the Schmalkaldic War finally brought the family the threat of the Imperial Eight of Emperor Charles V, from which they had to buy themselves out with a lot of money. The family of v.Gemmingen is Protestant at Guttenberg Castle.
Guttenberg Castle offers a special program with different modules especially since the anniversary year of the Reformation.