Wiki Loves Monuments

Logo of the competition

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is an international photo competition for cultural monuments . The photos are uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons media collection website and can be used from there under free licenses .

history

statistics
year	Participating countries	Participating photographers	Uploaded photos
2010	1		13,000
2011	18th	5,400	168,000
2012	35	15,000	365,000
2013	51	11,900	370,000
2014	41	8,900	322,000
2015	33	6,600	231,000
2016	42	10,700	277,000
2017	52	9,779	247,592
2018	56	13,878	265,395
2019	49

The competition was first held in the Netherlands in 2010. The monument protection authority of the Netherlands made data of the architectural monuments available for the Dutch Wikipedia . Numerous volunteer photographers took part with around 12,500 photos of over 8,000 objects.

In 2011 Wiki Loves Monuments was carried out across Europe and around 167,000 photos were submitted, almost 30,000 of them from Germany. This set the record for the largest photo competition in the world recognized by Guinness World Records . The Austrian Federal Monuments Office has been working with the Wikipedia specialist group for Austria since 2011 . In the course of this pilot project between an authority with a community of volunteers from the open data or open access movement, it was also possible to supplement the partially incomplete or outdated documentation of the monument office. This cooperation was also recognized within the Wikimedia projects ( Zedler Prize Community Project of the Year 2012).

In September 2012, the competition was held in 35 countries worldwide and over 360,000 photos were uploaded. Since then, the competition has been held worldwide every year. Many photos are used by Wikipedia to illustrate lists of monuments and articles.

meeting

September as the period of this monument photography competition is based on the annual event European Heritage Days . This month, the Open Monument Day in Germany and Switzerland and the Monument Day in Austria also offer the opportunity to photograph cultural monuments.

gallery

First places in the international ranking
2010: Vijzelstraat 31 in Amsterdam , Netherlands
2011: Chiajna Monastery on the outskirts of Bucharest , Romania
2012: Cenotaph in the tomb of Safdarjung , New Delhi , India
2013: RhB Ge 4/4 II on the Wiesener Viaduct , Switzerland
2014: Svjatohirsk Holy Ascension Monastery , Ukraine
2015: Westerheversand lighthouse , Germany
2016: Commercial building for the civil departments of the Berlin I Regional Court and the Berlin I District Court , Germany
2017: Temple dedicated to Khanderaya in Jejuri, India
2018: Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque , Iran
2019: Interior view of the closed Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Stawiszyn , Poland