Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (31 January 1778 – 4 April 1861) was a Bohemian

Bohemian

A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...

 nobleman and an Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 statesman.

Born in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 the son of a Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

n noble family, whose ancestors had already served under Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....

, Franz Anton finished his studies in 1799. During the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

 he achieved the office of a stadtholder

Stadtholder

A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...

 of Austrian emperor Francis I of Habsburg

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...

 at Prague and in 1810 became Oberstburggraf

Burgrave

A burgrave is literally the count of a castle or fortified town. The English form is derived through the French from the German Burggraf and Dutch burg- or burch-graeve .* The title is originally equivalent to that of castellan or châtelain, meaning keeper of a castle and/or fortified town...

of the whole Bohemian kingdom

Kingdom of Bohemia

The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...

. Contrary to Minister of State Klemens Wenzel von Metternich he encouraged Czech cultural and civic-national movements, exemplified by the founding of the Prague National Museum

National Museum (Prague)

The National museum is a Czech museum institution intended to systematically establish, prepare and publicly exhibit natural scientific and historical collections. It was founded 1818 in Prague by Kašpar Maria Šternberg...

 in 1818.

Kolowrat's rivalry with Metternich intensified when in 1826 the emperor called him to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, where he was elevated to a member of the Austrian State Council responsible for the Interior and Finances; while Metternich favored a strong army, Kolowrat reduced the miitary budget. After the accession of Francis' incapable son Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I of Austria

Ferdinand I was Emperor of Austria, President of the German Confederation, King of Hungary and Bohemia , as well as associated dominions from the death of his father, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, until his abdication after the Revolutions of 1848.He married Maria Anna of Savoy, the sixth child...

 to the throne in 1836, Kolowrat together with Metternich led the Secret State Conference

Secret State Conference

The Secret State Conference was the de jure advisory body to Ferdinand I of Austria and the de facto ruling body of the Austrian Empire from 1836 to 1848 in the Age of Metternich.- Members :* Archduke Louis, chairman...

, the de facto government of the Empire. However the continuous disagreement between the two leaders palsied the Austrian politics and ultimately contributed to the outbreak of the Revolutions of 1848

Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas

From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...

. When Metternich had to resign, Kolowrat assumed the newly created office of an Austrian Minister-President, which he nevertheless laid down after only one month between 3-5 April, officially for health reasons.

Kolowrat died in Vienna.

Decoration

• Order of the Golden Fleece
  Order of the Golden Fleece
  The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...
  
  
• Order of Leopold
  Order of Leopold (Austria)
  The Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold was founded by Franz I of Austria on 8 January 1808. The order's statutes stipulated only three grades: Grand Cross, Commander and Knight. During the war, in common with the other Austro-Hungarian decorations Crossed Swords were instituted to reward bravery in...
  
  
• Order of St. Andrew
  Order of St. Andrew
  The Order of St. Andrew the First-Called is the first and the highest order of chivalry of the Russian Empire.- Russian Empire :The Order was established in 1698 by Tsar Peter the Great, in honour of Saint Andrew, the first apostle of Jesus and patron saint of Russia...
  
  
• Order of St. Anna
  Order of St. Anna
  The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
  
  
• Order of St. Vladimir
  Order of St. Vladimir
  The Cross of Saint Vladimir was an Imperial Russian Order established in 1782 by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus....
  
  
• Order of the White Eagle
• Order of Alexander Nevsky
  Order of Alexander Nevsky
  The Order of Alexander Nevsky is an order of merit bestowed by the Russian Federation. It is named in honour ofAlexander Nevsky's struggle with the Teutonic Knights....
  
  
• Venerable Order of Saint John
  Venerable Order of Saint John
  The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...