List of largest palaces

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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 728,000 square metres (180 acres). The 980 buildings of the Forbidden City have a combined floor space of 1,614,600 square feet (150,001 m²) 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 functioning royal palace by floor space is the Royal Palace of Madrid in Spain, with 135,000 square metres (1,450,000 sq ft) of floor space and containing 3,418 rooms. The royal family doesn’t live in the royal palace, but it is used for special occasions and ceremonies.^[1]

The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, with 1000 rooms on 13 levels, and over 130,000 square metres (1,400,000 sq ft) of floor space,^[2] 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^[3] give the area as 360,000 square metres (3,900,000 sq ft).)

In the castle category, Prague and Malbork castles claim to be world's largest. However, despite its singular name, Prague Castle is not a single building. Like the Forbidden City, it comprises a number of palaces, temples, and halls (constructed over several centuries) that share a common defensive wall. Altogether, the complex covers 18 acres (7.3 ha), leading to the self-appointed title of largest coherent castle complex in the world.^[4]