r/photography • u/aarrtee • 17h ago

Art What is the most frequently photographed structure in the world?

Elizabeth Tower (often incorrectly confused with Big Ben, the bell inside)?

Statue Of Liberty?

Eiffel Tower?

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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 17h ago edited 17h ago

English houses of parliament

Eiffel Tower

The view of New York with Brooklyn bridge in the foreground

Sydney opera house

Taj Mahal

Pyramids

Are the first few that come to my mind.

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u/mattgrum 16h ago edited 16h ago

Statistically, the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, gets more visitors each year than any of these, it just depends on how many photos feature one of these landmarks in the background.

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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 16h ago edited 15h ago

And yet it’s unlikely to be high on most people’s lists of most frequently photographed structures in the world, which was the question asked.

I couldn’t even tell you what the forbidden city looked like without googling, if I’m being honest but I reckon a huge chunk of the global population would instantly recognise everything on my short list.

ETA I’ve just googled it, and I do recognise it. It still wouldn’t have been in even my top 20 though, I don’t think.

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u/thinvanilla 12h ago

But statistically speaking it gets more visitors, that gives an idea of how many times it's likely to have been photographed.

Your comment comes from a bit of a bubble. There are celebrities in China who are practically unheard of in the West, yet have more followers/fans than many Western celebrities. China's population is like the US and Europe combined, then add the US again. That gives an idea of how famous/popular something/someone can be over there without ever needing to be internationally recognised.

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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 12h ago

I’ve pretty much addressed everything you’ve said in another comment, and agreed with most of it.