Wiki Loves Monuments

For the last contest, see Commons:Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2024.

Wiki Loves Monuments
Official logo of Wiki Loves Monuments
All countries that participated at least once in a Wiki Loves Monuments competition in 2010-2022
GenrePhotography
Begins1 September [1]
Ends31 October [2]
Location(s)Worldwide
Years active15
Inaugurated2010
Most recent2024
ParticipantsPhotographers
Organised byWikipedia community members
WebsiteWikiLovesMonuments.org
WLM 2023 winner:Giza pyramids seen through the installation Together by Lorenzo Quinn during "Forever is Now" exhibition (Egypt), by Mona Hassan Abo-Abda

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is an annual international photographic competition held during the month of September, organised worldwide by Wikipedia community members with the help of local Wikimedia affiliates across the globe. Participants take pictures of local historical monuments and heritage sites in their region, and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. The aim of event is to highlight the heritage sites of the participating countries with the goal to encourage people to capture pictures of these monuments, and to put them under a free licence which can then be re-used not only in Wikipedia but everywhere by everyone.

The first Wiki Loves Monuments competition was held in 2010 in the Netherlands as a pilot project. The next year it spread to other countries in Europe and according to the Guinness Book of Records, the 2011 edition of the Wiki Loves Monuments broke the world record for the largest photography competition.[3] In 2012, the competition was extended beyond Europe, with a total of 35 participating countries.[4] During Wiki Loves Monuments 2012, more than 350,000 photographs of historic monuments were uploaded by more than 15,000 participants. In 2013, the Wiki Loves Monuments competition was held across six continents including Antarctica and had official participation from more than fifty countries around the world. The 2016 edition of WLM was supported by UNESCO and saw 10,700 contestants from 43 countries who submitted 277,000 photos.[5]

  1. ^ most common starting date
  2. ^ most common ending date
  3. ^ Guinness World Records, Largest photography competition, 2012.
  4. ^ Eglash, Ruth (28 August 2012). "Hundreds of cultural sites to be visually documented during "Wiki Loves Monuments event."". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  5. ^ "Wiki Loves Monuments statistics". tools.wmflabs.org. Retrieved 18 December 2016.