World's Most Stunning Presidential Palaces (PHOTOS)

Presidential palaces are usually one of a city's most impressive aesthetic highlights for both citizens and tourists alike. In cases like Buenos Aires' Casa Rosada, they served as the backdrop for some of their country's most memorable historic events, whereas others, such as the Golden Jubilee House in Accra, Ghana, were inaugurated a mere two years ago.

Contrary to popular belief, many countries do not refer to their president's residences as a presidential palace, often bestowing that regal title to the location of the head of state's executive offices instead.

Whether acting as the seat of the government, the head of state's home or, in some cases, as both, presidential palaces represent a stunning melange of architectural styles, from Baroque to neoclassical to merely modern.

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Brazil

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Brazil's Palácio do Planalto was designed to project "an image of simplicity."

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Brazil's Palácio do Planalto was designed to project "an image of simplicity."

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The Best Palace

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Bureaucratic Princely

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Best Presidential Palaces

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Comments

[markbenson143]

07:19 AM on 07/03/2010

The entrance is accessible by street, save for the tiny medieval guard posts, and open enough that you could chance upon it on a random walk.
play slot machines

[Whinger]

05:58 AM on 06/23/2010

Ghetto's around the world are all the same, stinking rat infested squalor.....

While the privileged live it up in splendid luxury without a care in the world.

[Jennifer Hagan]

01:29 PM on 06/30/2010

Amen to that.

[ViSH iX]

05:17 PM on 07/04/2010

yes, I'm sure you'll impress heads of states by living in a simple, small building... (im being sarcastic)

[Inanina]

10:29 AM on 06/22/2010

The White House doesn't compare to the some seriously grandiose Heads of States residencies. We can't even put it side to side with Buckingham Palace and the Chateau de Versailles (France). I've seen all three. Those two are in a category of their own. It's a good testimony to the US that the White House is among the more 'modest' residencies. I wish they had added the residency of the president of Tunisia...I saw it with my own eyes - it is quite astounding. Especially when he left it for his 'official' wife and lives with his current mistress in another one that I hear to be quite exquisite as well.

[vonric]

01:07 AM on 07/02/2010

agreed....The US "Presidential Mansion" was specifically intended to be modest, with a notion of establishing a differentiator between Britain and the new country. The architect, James Hoban, modeled it after a "decent country home' of a British Gentleman of the era, meaning that it lacked the servants quarters and rooms of state that comprise most executive or royal residences.

Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant architect in his spare time, submitted a simple "Roman Villa", essentially a one story residence modeled after Palladio's Villa Rotunda. Had that plan been accepted, the Executive Mansion would have been even more modest in scale.

As it is, the White House suffered the slings and arrows of various First Ladies in terms of renovations - at one point, the East Room (the largest of the entertaining suites) was decorated in the then-popular "Moorish' theme. Jackie Kennedy raised private funds to acquire some of the original furniture and had legislation passed that classes the main floors as a museum, which means that the changes made are relatively modest.

[kyeshinka]

09:44 AM on 06/22/2010

I've seen the Blue House in Seoul. It's quaint, but not huge or stunning, in my opinion. The current president, the former CEO of Hyundai, probably has other larger homes than this one.

[Jiyon]

06:38 AM on 06/22/2010

Wait, so where's the Japanese Tokyo Imperial Palace and the Beijing Forbidden City? Where's the Kremlin?I think those 3 are quite impressive to be noted here.

[Bexstarr]

03:16 PM on 06/23/2010

The presidents of those countries do not live there

[pauldeba]

05:21 PM on 06/25/2010

The President doesn't live in the Casa Rosada in Argentina and I doubt Brazil, accra or a bunch of other ones in the lsit, either

[DramaKitteh]

09:16 PM on 06/21/2010

Gotta love the Palais Elysee. Absolutley gorgeous.

[trccommission]

04:55 PM on 06/21/2010

No White House? No Buckingham Palace?

[thankulord13]

08:12 PM on 06/21/2010

I rhink it has to do with the fact that both are well known and world renown. I guess the person in charge with this was trying to expand some of our horizons. Just a thought.

[vonric]

01:09 AM on 07/02/2010

I'd respectfully suggest that the White House was intended to be purposefully modest in comparison to both British and French imperial residences of the era; it was intended to be a relatively modest residence in order to set an example for an egalitarian new republic.

And, to that end, neither the size nor the interior fittings rival most of the places shown on this tagline story... the antiques, old by our standards, are not, by European ones.

[AnnoyedCanuck]

02:54 PM on 06/21/2010

"Stunning"? How? Most of these buildings are merely big, sterile and grandiose. I wouldn't bother to visit more than one or two of them.

The Pakistani presidential palace (#9) looks like it was built by Stalin.

[Saad Ahmad]

01:55 PM on 06/21/2010

Forgot the White House where the emperor of the world (and moon) currently resides

[thankulord13]

08:12 PM on 06/21/2010

Thank God this Emperor has clothes unlike the last one.

[GeorgeP922]

12:52 PM on 06/21/2010

Hmm some nice ones, but I Think our White House along with the capital building and mall, (any many other monuments and agency buildings) kills alot of this.

[santiago sherwood]

12:39 PM on 06/21/2010

the Argentinian one is very pretty and in a very cool neighborhood. Brasilia is one city that you have to see from a car , as it is too spread out to walk.

[AbstractImp]

12:36 PM on 06/21/2010

Targets, one and all:
They house the enemies of the people.

[mcarlsonus]

10:49 AM on 06/22/2010

Git yer jihad on, hombre!

[salvarsan]

10:47 AM on 06/21/2010

Rome's Quirinale does not stun; it overwhelms you in a leisurely manner as its architecture is understated and consistent with the area.

The entrance is accessible by street, save for the tiny medieval guard posts, and open enough that you can chance upon it on a random walk.

Eventually you realize that the Quirinale is huge, sits atop Rome's highest hill and encloses a garden the size of a city block -- in a city so densely settled as Rome, this equates to extraordinary wealth and power.

Stunning? No.
Impressive? Very.

[badger2196]

10:43 AM on 06/21/2010

Why does HuffPo insist on referring to Korea in such stories? Is it North Korea or South Korea??

[thankulord13]

08:14 PM on 06/21/2010

It is South Korea. The locals call it the Blue House.

[Jiyon]

06:39 AM on 06/22/2010

Haha, in America the Presidential palace is called White House, but in Korea it's called Blue House? That's pretty cool

[buddhalounge]

10:41 AM on 06/21/2010

I think the photo of the Indian presidential palace is of the back entrance. The front entrance is here http://htoh.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/rashtrapati-bhavan.jpg