What is the most famous present-day object that can be seen only in person (no photographs exist)?

Green flash? How common. The blue flash is what you want to see.

You don’t think this does it justice? If anything, it’s more spectacular in photographs! And anyone can take a picture of it, so I don’t think it counts for the premise of the OP.

Ah, well, so much for that idea.

I would pay you to not show them to me.

Hey, thanks for the green flash photos. I actually thought it was a myth.

The inside of an architect’s office near the top of the Chrysler Building?

Apparently they’re dicks about photography :stuck_out_tongue:

EDIT: Oops, I should have followed all the links in that thread more thoroughly :o

Brainstorm: the backs/bottoms of famous things. The back of the Mona Lisa, for example.

I’m not sure that’s accurate.
While I don’t know about the Mona Lisa specifically, many paintings do have markings on the back of the canvas, which are quite important in proving the provenance (history, authenticity) of the painting. So photos of these back sides do exist, and are considered quite important by art curators. They just aren’t shown in public much – most people find them much less interesting than the front side!

It was a random example..how about underneath the stones of Stonehenge?

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Image:Mona_Lisa_Back_Panel.PNG

In fact, it turns out that the back side of the Mona Lisa has been photographed, and it’s even available online: see here.

I saw Lenin. The guards are very strict and growled at me for losing my balance.

Nobody had any trouble with tourists giggling and taking pictures in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier out in front, though. Annoyed the hell out of me.

A court case isn’t an object; something not yet/newly discovered probably couldn’t be famous; I believe one can see ONLY images (copies, scans, .pdfs) of FOIA documents …

Something famous with no picture seems impossible - haven’t I read about celebrity ultrasounds being leaked?

If it were impossible to take a picture ..
But if something is visible, it is possible to capture an image on film or digitally …
Unless the film or electronic would be damaged somehow …

The core of the Japanese reactor? It is famous, the radiation would damage film, there is no qualification the observer survives to a healthy old age …

Ah, getting in would probably be tough.

Taking that a step farther - no picture probably exists of the Great Wall of China. By that I mean the entire wall, yet in a level of detail that allows one to actually view it in any meaningful detail. I’m sure photos from orbit exist, but probably don’t show more than a line snaking across China.

For this OP I can only think of “cheat” answers…

  1. At the moment a number of labs around the world are racing to make the first metamaterial that will deflect visible-light around it.
    When they succeed, surely this will fit the bill? :smiley:

  2. If people who have NDEs really are visiting some other realm then…the tunnel of light.
    Of course they aren’t though…

I’m an average member of the general public, and I’ve never seen such a thing.

I would very, very much like to see such a thing. As soon as possible.

A number of museums forbid photography, require passage through metal detectors for entrance, and have guards in the galleries, so there are unquestionably famous art works on public display that cannot, in practice, be photographed by ordinary people. I don’t know if any of those also don’t have professional photographs available, though.

Bill Clinton’s penis? Judging by his past “conquests,” pretty much any average gal can take a gander at it. No known pictures, though. :smiley:

Ms. Spears puts hers on pubic display…

Available to the general public? :confused:

But Mao is more famous than this.

Mao’s body has to be the answer.

Things that haven’t been developed yet aren’t famous.
The backs of rocks that no one actually sees aren’t available to view.
And, Beware of Doug… Just because you’re a member of the general public and got in to see it, doesn’t mean the rest of us have access as well. (a vote for second funniest answer in the thread.)

Available to the general public? :confused:
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Doesn’t everyone get a chance to meet their maker? You may not like the price of entry, but it’s easier than going to North Korea, and everyone pays it eventually. People will even offer to help you meet him.

Bladesman… my vote for funniest answer in the thread.

Only the Emperor and a select few high ranking priests are allowed to lay eyes on the Imperial Regalia of Japan.

I am pretty sure that the Grand Shrine of Ise is the one that I was thinking of.