The following is a list of some of the largest buildings that are considered palaces in terms by area. The title of the "world's largest palace" is both difficult to award and controversial, as different countries use different standards to claim that their palace is the largest in the world.
The title of world's largest palace by area enclosed within the palace's fortified walls is held by China's Forbidden City complex in Beijing, which covers an area of . The 980 buildings of the Forbidden City have a combined floor space of and contain 9,999 rooms (the ancient Chinese believed the god Yù Huáng had 10,000 rooms in his palace; so they constructed an earthly palace to have 9,999 and a half rooms, slightly fewer than in the divine palace, out of respect).
The world's largest official residence of a head of state is at the Kremlin Square at Moscow, Russian Federation. The Kremlin Square's earliest contemporary parts were made in 1159. The contemporary Terem palace building was made from 1839 to 1848, to serve as the Moscow residence to the tsar and his family. After the Russian Revolution 1917, it would also be used for meetings and conferences of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the residence for General secretary of the Soviet Union. It now has become the seat of president of the Russian Federation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The palace has five reception halls, out of them the Georgievsky Hall which is still used today for state and diplomatic receptions and official ceremonies; International treaties are signed within the Vladimirsky Hall, the Tsarina's Golden Chamber, the Terem Palace, and the Palace of Congresses are Aleksandrovsky are held at the Hall and Andreyevsky Hall were combined with forming the Kremlin as how it is today. The Grand Kremlin Palace by itself has an area of , within triangular walls, which measures 2,235 meters in length with its walls having the thickness of 3.5 to 6.5 meters and 20 towers. The highest tower, Troitskaya, is around 80 meters in height with its proximity within the Kremlin Square. The palace measures 124 meters by 47 meters, the Terem palace had 9 churches and 700 rooms in the 3 storied building it adds up to the area of 28 hectares or , as a 'city within a city' and therefore making it the biggest residential building for the head of state, in the world, when the Kremlin is also thereby included within the structure.
There is ongoing debate about the biggest palatial building and complex of the head of the state of a country, lies in differentiation between what is considered a presidential complex and a singular palatial building estate, even some estimates indicate, if judging solely by a single building complex. The world's largest official residence of a head of state would be Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, Republic of India. This is the official residence of the President of India, located at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill in New Delhi. The Presidential Estate is spread across 130 hectares of land area, which houses the main H-shaped building covering a massive of total floor area across 340 massive rooms and featuring a total of 2.50 kilometre long corridors. The entire structure was built using 700 million bricks and 3,000,000 cu ft (85,000 m3) of stone with little steel. The primary building sits in the centre of the estate, surrounded by multiple official buildings, massive yet beautiful gardens, lawns and large courtyards. Therefore, bigger than Grand Kremlin palace when compared on basis of building than entire palatial complex.
The world's largest private residence of a monarch is the Istana Nurul Iman in Brunei, with of floor space and contains 1,788 rooms. The building also has 257 bathrooms, a banqueting hall that can seat 5,000 guests, a garage that can fit 110 cars, five swimming pools, and an air-conditioned stable that can fit up to 200 polo ponies.
The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, with 1000 rooms on 13 levels, and over of floor space, is one of the largest palaces in the world by floor area. It was the winter residence of the Dalai Lama until 1959. (Many sources give the area as .)
In the castle category, Prague and Malbork castles claim to be the world's largest. However, the task is made more difficult by the fact that castles underwent changes over centuries and were not originally intended to be palaces, but military strongholds, although most of the existing castles were either converted to palaces or a palace building was added to them. In addition to the difficulty of area measurement by floor area, land area and garden area, we are faced the question if the castle should be considered as it exists or in its historically most extended form. Prague castle is the biggest castle according to the Guinness Book of Records with area of , but this area does not contain the castle gardens, stables and Letohrádek Královny Anny located on a separate hill. Malbork Castle claims to be the biggest and bases this claim on the property lot size listed in UNESCO world heritage records with a lot size of .
Faux palaces While many buildings carry the title of palace, there are some which are either no longer, or were not supposed to be, used as a royal residence initially. They served either a sovereign's residence or an episcopal residence, still are counted within the category of Palatial buildings.
Romania's Palace of the Parliament contains of floorspace, it was never a royal residence, as Romania's last monarch was forced to abdicate in 1947, but it was the palace intended to be used by president Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania's supreme ruler and dictator.
Britain's Palace of Westminster was built in the Middle Ages as a royal residence. It served as the principal residence of the monarch until 1522, when Henry VIII moved his court to the newly acquired Palace of Whitehall. Since that time, the palace at Westminster has been used by the House of Lords, the House of Commons and various courts. The majority of the medieval palace was destroyed by fire in 1834, with construction of the current building starting in 1840. The palace which now stands on the site was designed specifically for parliamentary use, however it is the property of the monarch in right of the Crown and retains its status as a royal residence. Very little of the medieval palace survived, but the most significant is Westminster Hall, built in 1097 during the reign of William II.
Converted palaces Several palaces are former royal residences that reached their current grand sizes after they ceased being used as royal residences, and were converted to some other purpose.
The best example of such subsequent expansion is the Louvre Palace. As a royal residence, it was much smaller than the current Louvre Museum. The Louvre Palace was abandoned as a royal residence in 1682, when Louis XIV moved his court to the Palace of Versailles. The Louvre Palace was relegated to the role of displaying royal collections and hosting administrative services, and over the centuries, it went through several renovations, expansions and additions, including a significant one as an imperial project during the Second French Empire in the 19th century. It reached its current size of only in 1988, as the modern Louvre Museum.
Russia's Winter Palace and its annexes were not expanded after the Russian Revolution, but the State Hermitage Museum also occupies other buildings, which add to the size of the museum but not to the palace. The Winter Palace contained of floorspace as a royal residence. However, the modern Hermitage Museum complex, centered on the Winter Palace, contains of floorspace. That includes the Small and the Old Hermitage buildings that were annexes to the main palace, which were used by the Imperial Court and are part of the palace complex. The same is true of the New Hermitage, which has been used as a museum for the Imperial collections ever since it was built. All three Hermitages and the Hermitage Theatre can thus be considered both independent buildings and wings of the Winter Palace.
Despite a size that overshadows most other great palaces in Europe, the Winter Palace does not contain as much floorspace since most of the state apartments in the northern and the eastern wings are two floors high.
Uninhabited palaces With of floorspace,Royal Palace of Madrid statistics verified by official website, See also Palacio Real (Cyberspain) the Royal Palace of Madrid is often considered the largest functioning palace in Europe, as it is still used for state functions. Although Spanish monarchs once occupied it, the current King of Spain does not, instead living at the much smaller Palace of Zarzuela.
Although notably smaller than several other palaces throughout the world, with only of floorspace, the Royal Palace of Stockholm also claims to be "the largest palace in the world still used for its original purpose." Yet, like the Royal Palace of Madrid, it is not currently occupied, with Swedish monarchs instead occupying Drottningholm Palace.
Guinness World Record While numerous claimants under the various measurements can be recognized, to be considered for the Guinness World Record the palace must have once been intended for use as a royal residence. This is controversial as the definition of a palace is the official residence of a sovereign, chief of state (as a monarch or a president), archbishop, bishop. Furthermore, only the combined area of all floors in the palace (a measurement commonly known as floorspace) is considered.
According to the Guinness World Records, Forbidden City holds the "largest palace in the world". The Istana Nurul Iman, with of floorspace,Bartholomew, James. The Richest Man in the World, Penguin Books Ltd; New Ed edition (February 22, 1990). , holds the title as the "world's largest residential palace" held in Brunei.
Largest former palace complexes
In ancient times palace buildings could be as large or even larger than existing palace buildings. One example is the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. The palace, which started construction in 2000 BC, reached its largest size in 1500 BC with a size of 20,000 m2 (215,278.208 ft2) and 1,300 rooms.
The Malkata palace complex was built by the Pharaoh Amenhotep III in the 14th century BC. The size of the palace complex is unknown, but it contained a T-shaped artificial lake covering an area of at least 2 km2 (3.6 km2 according to some estimates). The size of the main palace itself was 30,000 m2.
The Basileia (royal quarter) of Alexandria is estimated to have covered an area of around 200 hectares (2,000,000 m2), though its exact size is uncertain. According to Strabo it took up a fourth or maybe even a third of the entire city. The complex included multiple palaces and royal residences, parks and gardens, the famous library of Alexandria, royal tombs (including the tomb of Alexander the Great), temples, a theatre, a gymnasium, a zoo, a citadel, a prison, the royal treasury and guest apartments.
The Roman emperor Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, Italy was a complex of over 30 buildings constructed between 118 and the 130s AD, covering an area of at least 250 acres () of which much is still unexcavated. The villa was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape. The complex included palaces, several thermae, theatre, temples, libraries, state rooms, and quarters for courtiers, praetorians, and slaves.
When Roman emperor Nero's "Golden House" (Domus Aurea) was built after the great fire of AD 64, the buildings covered up to 300 acres (). The main villa of the complex had more than 300 rooms.