A looter’s guide to presidential palaces

Palace coups

The people of Ukraine enjoyed a peek inside President Yanukovych’s palace, complete with petting zoo and collection of motorcycles. Who has the biggest and best presidential palace?
— Italy’s president Giorgio Napolitano can claim the biggest: the Quirinal Palace in Rome, at 1.19m sq ft. It is not much fun, though, being full of worthy art collections.
— Vladimir Putin has the run of the 259,410 sq ft Kremlin Palace, with its own private cathedral.
— Indian president Pranab Mukherjee has 200,004 sq ft at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, with a noted bonsai collection and a garden with 5,000 tulips.
— Barack Obama only has 55,000 sq ft at the White House, but has his own personal bowling alley, jogging track and putting green.
— The exact size of Kim Jong-un’s palace at Ryongsong is unknown, but it has a 50-metre pool with giant waterslide, a shooting range and a motor-racing circuit.