Karlslust Castle

Karlslust Castle is located in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria, north of the road from Niederfladnitz to Mitterretzbach near the Czech border, and is not accessible to visitors.

With the extinction of the Trautson family, the Kaja dominion passed as an inheritance to Karl Josef Prince Auersperg. In 1795, construction of Karlslust Castle began in his hunting grounds, with Franz Xaver Pollnfürst from Vienna as the master builder. After the structural completion of the castle, a wildlife park was created in 1798, surrounding the castle. The interior decoration was completed in 1801. Heinrich Fischer, who also worked in the Vienna City Palace, may have been the interior designer. The stucco work was done by Johann Georg Böhm.

Although the castle is isolated and remote in the forest, the manorial administration and the associated archive were moved here from Niederfladnitz Castle. After the extinction of a male branch of the Auersperg-Trautson family, the dominion passed by inheritance first to the Dukes of Croÿ, then from 1945 into the possession of the Counts of Waldstein-Wartenberg, who, in addition to Karlslust Castle, also became owners of the estate in Niederfladnitz with the associated Kaja Castle.

The author and journalist Mella Waldstein grew up here.