Archduke Joseph Antal Habsburg was the founder of the Hungarian branch of the Habsburg dynasty, the Palatine of Hungary from 1796 until his death, and brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz I, King of Hungary. He was known as ‘the most Hungarian Habsburg’ for his merits in supporting the interests and development of Hungary. He played a prominent role in the development of Pest into a cultural and economic centre by the 1830s. He initiated the erection of a series of buildings of townscape importance. He is credited with the classicist architecture of Pest, the National Museum, the German Theatre, the Gellért Hill Observatory, the Ludovika Academy and several railway lines, the landscaping of the City Park, the landscaping of Margaret Island, the development of the new Pest and the Lipótváros districts, and the strengthening of technical higher education. He made substantial donations to the National Museum, the Széchényi Library and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the arts, public education, and a number of progressive civic societies and associations. Most of the enterprises initiated by Széchenyi were also connected to him through his office, and he supported them effectively as head of the highest government department in Hungary, the Lieutenancy Council, but also as a private person, for example, the Academy, with generous donations.