3 ^ ^ % , SPECIAL ELECTION EDITION
Convention Fist Fights Embarrassing Siblings and much more!
Sept-Oct2008 volume 7 issue 5 m^italfloss
^
hand
orm
By Brian McMahon
Join us as we take a rare glimpse into a world of design unencumbered by any sense of money, taste, or morality
52 MENTAL
FLOSS
HulieTy, H u n ablo Escobar's home, Hacienda Napoles, was everything you'd expect from a deranged, bilhonaire drug lord. Sprawling across 7,400 acres of Colombian jungle, Escobar's mansion included a private landing strip, a 500-seat bullring, an Old Western saloon, a series of life-size dinosaur statues, and a zoo with elephants, giraffes, antelope, and hippos. The overall effect was more like a back-lot tour at Universal Studios than a grand villa in South America. Escobar built his Hacienda during the 1980s, when he was riding high in the drug market, but in 1993, he was cornered and shot by Colombian commandos. The mansion fell into disrepair, and treasure hunters ransacked it looking for money and drugs. Eventually, conservationists rescued the animals from the 200—all except for the hippos, which were too large and aggressive to travel. Left to their own devices, the four original hippos were fruitful and multiplied, and more than 20 of them run wild there today. In 2007, Escobar's estate finally became what it was always meant to be—an amusement park. Visitors are greeted by jungle music and a sign that reads "Here begins a truly wild adventure," The dinosaur statues still stand tall, and at night, the hippos roam free.
1
CLOCKWISE FROM lEFT: CEAUSESCU'S CUSTOM STAIRCASE-CRYSTAL CHANDELIERS IN ONE OF THE PALACE'S 1,100 ROOMS- EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE PALACE OF THE PARLIAMENT
111 Step with a Dictator n 1983, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu burned down the houses of 30,000 families in Bucharest to make room for his dream home. With i,ioo rooms spread throughout 12 stories, the Perigee of Parliament is one of the largest buildings in the world. Ceausescu spared no expense in filling the opulent rooms with crystal chandeliers and woven carpets the size of football fields. But the real jewels of the Palace are Ceausescu's egomaniacal touches. The stairs of the grand entrance hall were measured to his exact foot length, so that he could descend them without looking down, and the walls of another vast atrium were crafted to make applause for Ceausescu sound twice as loud. Overthrown and executed in 1989, Ceausescu never saw his palace completed. Today, it houses both chambers of the Romanian government, along with lots and lots of elbow room.
The Fene Shui of Embezzlement (9,
ormer Zaire dictator Mobutu Sese Seko wanted more than an extravagant home; he wanted an extravagant hometown. And he could afford it, having followed the typical dictator path of swindling billions of dollars in foreign aid while his country spiraled into poverty. Thanks to his close ties with China during the 1960s, Mobutu built three lavish Chinese pagodas, replete with jade tiles and rose gardens, and transformed his hometown of Gbadohte into something that looked more like Beijing's Forbidden City than anything you'd see in the Congo. All that decorating didn't exactly bring him inner peace, though. Mobutu was ousted from power in 1997, and without the jobs that came from supporting his excesses, Gbadolite soon returned to the rural hamlet it once was. The surrounding jungle crept over Mobutu's mansions, and looters took everything that wasn't nailed down. All that remains today are two bronze leopards guarding the entrance of the grand estate. They were the only things too heavy to carry away.
MENTALFLOSSXXJM
55
FROM TOP: IMELDA MARCOS' FAMOUS SHOE COLLECTION;STATUE Of FERDINAND MARCOS IN THE MOUNTAINS NORTH Of MANILA. DESTROYED BY AN UNKNOWN PERSON IN 2002; EXTERIOR VIEW Of MALACANANC PALACE.
The House That Theft Built uring the 20-year reign of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, the national debt of the Philippines skyrocketed, political rivals were assassinated, and more than $500 billion disappeared from the state treasury. But the presidential quarters got a lovely makeover. Under Imelda's direction, Malacahang Palace gained several narcissistic flares. Her private bathroom was outfitted with a 15-foot whirlpool tub with mirrored ceilings fit for a disco, and her closet held some 3.000 pairs of shoes, many with matching handbags. But the most impressive displays of vanity were the larger-than-life portraits of the first couple in the entrance hall. One mural showed Imelda rising out of the sea, a la "The Birth of Venus," while the other depicted Ferdinand as a bare-chested, chiseled Tarzan stalking through the jungle. After losing the election in 1986. the Marcoses fled the country, and rioters looted the palace. A few years later. Ferdinand passed away, never admitting that he embezzled a fortune. Today, the palace is used as the official home of the Filipino president. Meanwhile, the government continues to search offshore bank accounts for its missing billions.
56
MENTAL FLOSS