Istana Nurul Iman
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The Istana Nurul Iman palace is the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. The palace is located on a leafy, riverside sprawl of hills on the banks of the Brunei River directly south of Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, no more than a few miles outside the city center. It is the largest residential palace in the world and the world's largest residence of any type. It was designed by National Artist of the Philippines for Architecture, Leandro V. Locsin. The geographic coordinates are .
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[edit] Specifications
Although the palace is hidden from public view through artful landscaping, satellite views provided by programs such as Google Earth, have increased the public knowledge of the palace's layout. Such images have relayed the existence of two large buildings in the center of the palace and five smaller buildings either adjacent to or nearby the palace center.
Istana Nurul Iman contains 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, and a floor area of 2,152,782 square feet (200,000 m²). Amenities include 5 swimming pools, and an air conditioned stable for the Sultan's 200 polo ponies, a 110-car garage, a banquet hall that can be expanded to accommodate up to 4,000 guests, and a mosque accommodating 1,500 people. The palace was built in 1984 at a cost of around $400 million USD and has 564 chandeliers, 51,000 light bulbs, 44 stairwells, and 18 elevators. It is also a home to a car collection that includes custom-made Ferraris and Bentleys as well as 165 Rolls Royces. Its golden domes, designed by Filipino architect Leandro V. Locsin, and vaulted roofs echo Islamic and Malay architectural influences.
[edit] Functions
The palace is used for all State functions. It is both the seat of Brunei's government and the location of the prime minister's office. In addition to Audience and State Rooms, there is a Throne Chamber used for various occasions such as the proclamation of the Crown Prince and the annual Birthday Investiture.
[edit] Accessibility
The palace is not open to the public except on the annual Islamic celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri (the festival at the end of the Muslim fasting month) when the palace receives about 110,000 visitors over a three-day period.
[edit] World's Largest Palace
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This article appears to contradict itself. Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
The title of the world's largest palace can be difficult to ascertain as many different standards are used to decide this distinction. Istana Nurul Iman is undisputedly the world's largest residential palace, and at 2,152,782 square feet, Istana Nurul Iman certainly has more floorspace than any other palace in the world.
However, it is primarily a residence while in many European palaces, most of the actual space in the palace is used for administrative and state purposes as is the case with Buckingham Palace. Thus, at 828,818 square feet, Buckingham Palace bears the title of the world's largest "working" royal palace.
Still, Buckingham Palace is not even the largest palace in Europe. At 1,453,122 square feet, the Royal Palace of Madrid, in Spain, is larger. However, the king of Spain resides elsewhere and it is used only for ceremonial purposes and heads of state visits thus it loses the title "largest working palace" to Buckingham Palace. In addition, some claim that Stockholm Palace, the 608 room official, but unoccupied, headquarters of the Swedish monarchy, is "the largest royal palace in the world that is still in use for its original purpose." Such a claim obviously ignores that the larger Istana Nurul Iman was built for the purpose that it currently serves today, as a royal palace.
Further complicating the title to "world's largest palace" is The Forbidden City which is the world's largest palace complex, but it is neither occupied as a residence nor is it one continuous building. In fact, it contains 800 different buildings. The total square footage of the complex is just less than 7,750,000 square feet, but with the vast open courtyards of the complex, the totaled square footage of the Forbidden City's collective buildings is smaller than that of Istana Nurul Iman.
And none of the above addresses "castles." Windsor Castle lays claim to the title "world's largest inhabited castle" while the Prague Castle castle lays claim to the outright title of "world's largest castle." Windsor Castle has a floor area of just over 484,000 square feet while the Prague Castle is much like the Forbidden City in that it is merely a complex containing many separate buildings, some of which are palaces.
Despite the myriad of classifications used to evaluate the size of royal residences, none of them truly bring into question whether Istana Nurul Iman is the largest residence, royal or otherwise, in the world.
[edit] Comparisons
Istana Nurul Iman: 2,152,782 square feet
The Royal Palace of Madrid: 1,453,122 square feet
Buckingham Palace: 828,818 square feet
The Palace of Versailles: 551,218 square feet
Windsor Castle: 484,374 square feet
The Biltmore Estate: 175,000 square feet
The White House: 55,000 square feet
Bill Gates' house: 50,000 square feet
[edit] Notes
- The area of Windsor Castle is calculated based on a report of the area destroyed in 1992 fire as being 9,000 meters squared which was reported to be about one fifth of the total area of the castle.
[edit] References
- ^ Bartholomew, James. The Richest Man in the World, Penguin Books Ltd; New Ed edition (February 22, 1990). ISBN-10: 0140108904, ISBN-13: 978-0140108903
- ^ Id.
- ^ Id.
- ^ Royal Palace of Madrid statistics verified by official website, See also Palacio Real (Cyberspain)
- ^ See reference on official British monarchy website [8]
- ^ See reference on official website [9]
- ^ Calculated based on report of area destroyed in 1992 fire as being 9,000 meters squared which was reported to be about one fifth of the total area of the castle. See reference on official website [10]
