A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. Many historic palaces are now put to other uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels, or office buildings. The act of determining the world’s largest palaces is difficult as many countries use different standards to claim their palaces are the largest. For purposes of this article, only the combined area of all floors in the palace (a measurement commonly known as floorspace) is considered.
Here are the top 20 biggest palaces in the world.
Rank | Palace | Floor area |
1. | Palace of the Parliament | 330,000 square metres (3,552,090 sq ft) |
2. | Hofburg Palace | 240,000 square metres (2,583,339 sq ft) |
3. | Louvre Palace | 210,000 square metres (2,260,421 sq ft) |
4. | Ak Saray Presidential Complex | 200,020 square metres (2,152,997 sq ft) |
5. | Istana Nurul Iman | 200,000 square metres (2,152,782 sq ft) |
6. | Apostolic Palace | 162,000 square metres (1,743,753 sq ft) |
7. | Forbidden City | 150,000 square metres (1,614,587 sq ft) |
8. | Malbork Castle | 143,000 square metres (1,539,239 sq ft) |
9. | Royal Palace of Madrid | 135,000 square metres (1,453,128 sq ft) |
10. | Quirinal Palace | 110,500 square metres (1,189,412 sq ft) |
11. | Abdeen Palace | 108,000 square metres (1,162,502 sq ft) |
12. | Falaknuma Palace | 93,971 square metres (1,011,495 sq ft) |
13. | Istana Negara | 90,082 square metres (969,635 sq ft) |
14. | Palace of Venaria | 80,000 square metres (861,113 sq ft) |
15. | Buckingham Palace | 77,000 square metres (828,821 sq ft) |
16. | Çırağan Palace | 76,000 square metres (818,057 sq ft) |
17. | Prague Castle | 70,000 square metres (753,474 sq ft) |
18. | Topkapi Palace | 70,000 square metres (753,474 sq ft) |
19. | Palace of Versailles | 63,154 square metres (679,784 sq ft) |
20. | Royal Palace of Stockholm | 61,210 square metres (658,859 sq ft) |
