Gaußig Castle and Park

A great facility that invites you to visit.
It was the country residence of Charlotte Countess von Kielmannsegge (1777-1863), Napoleon's spy by profession.
Her enthusiasm for Napoleon dates back to 1797, when the Countess traveled to Italy with the painter Josef Mathias Grassi. Later she specifically sought contact and visited the Emperor in St. Cloud. She also lived in Paris for a time. She also maintained contacts with the French Minister of Police, Joseph Fouché, and is said to have worked as an agent for the French secret police.Due to her social contacts with the Talleyrand family, Auguste von Kielmannsegge proved to be Napoleon's most important informant. There, the spying became conspicuous over time and people warned about “this big, hulking woman from Kielmannsegge”, who often instigated intrigues in order to get more information about Napoleon’s opponents.After Napoleon's fall, she campaigned for his return from exile and, according to a chambermaid, is said to have visited him on Elba. Saxon government files show that Countess Kielmannsegge was under surveillance by the authorities for a long time and was considered a politically dangerous person. A private trip to contact Napoleon's family was prevented in 1818 at the instigation of the Saxon envoy in Vienna, Friedrich Albrecht von der Schulenburg. In 1822 she converted to the Catholic faith.