Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky

Hochgeboren Franz Anton Graf von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky
Lithograph after a portrait by Johann Ender
1st Minister-President of the Austrian Empire
In office 20 March 1848 – 19 April 1848
Monarch	Ferdinand I
Preceded by	Klemens von Metternich (as State Chancellor)
Succeeded by	Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont
The Supreme burgrave
In office 1811–1826
Monarch	Francis I
Preceded by	Josef Frantisek Wallis
Succeeded by	Karl, Count Chotek of Chotkow and Wognin
Personal details
Born	(1778-01-31)31 January 1778 Prague, Bohemia
Died	4 April 1861(1861-04-04) (aged 83) Vienna, Austria
Religion	Roman Catholic Church

Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (German pronun­cia­tion: [ˈkɔ̯lo:ˌvrat.ˈli:pstaɪnˌski]; Czech: František Antonín Kolovrat-Libštejnský; 31 January 1778 – 4 April 1861) was Bohemian noble and Austrian statesman from the House of Kolowrat. As a moderate liberal politician, he was one of the major opponents of State Chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich during the Vormärz era. In the March Revolution of 1848, Kolowrat became the first constitutional Minister-President of Austria, however, he resigned after one month in office.

He was born and raised in the Bohemian capital Prague, a scion of the Bohemian family of high nobility (the House of Kolowrat), whose ancestors had already served under the Luxembourg emperor Charles IV. Having finished his studies at Charles University, Franz Anton entered the Austrian civil service at the Beroun district administration in January 1799. During the Napoleonic Wars he achieved the office of a stadtholder of the Habsburg emperor Francis I of Austria at Prague and in 1810 became Oberstburggraf of the Bohemian kingdom. Contrary to Chancellor Metternich, he encouraged Czech cultural and civic-national movements, exemplified by the founding of the Prague National Museum in 1818.