Wiki Loves Monuments, Calling Itself The World’s Largest Photo Contest, Has Announced The Winners Of Its 2021 Pageant, Which Showcases Stunning Cultural Heritage Sites From Around The World.

Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo contest for historical monuments organized by Wikimedia. Wikimedia hosts the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

In the twelfth round of the competition, we received 172,000 entries from 4,914 applicants. An international panel of experts evaluated, reviewed, and ranked 339 winning photos based on technical quality, originality, and usefulness for Wikipedia. The 2021 winners are from 11 different countries.

The Wiki Loves Monuments Contest requires photographers to donate their images to the Wikimedia Commons to be used on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects to document the world’s cultural treasures for present and future generations.

The Wiki Loves Monument contest goes deeper instead of focusing on beauty. The organizers of the competition said:

We owe it to ourselves to make people aware of the world’s beauty. This beauty should share through the eyes of people who experience it every day. We are committed to creating images that can capture and bring to life the stories of these places.

This competition has been held for over a decade to create a unique visual record of places of cultural heritage value. We hope we can use this recordsto help keep their stories alive or repair the damage they cause in the years to come.

As a monument, cultural sites belong to every human being. Every country is responsible for preserving historical monuments, no matter where they are located. They are not just “historical monuments of countries” but are the turning points of the whole human journey. We are all just the current custodians of these cultural sites, and we must work to ensure that they are passed on to future generations.

First place

The photo of this year’s winner of the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was taken by Donatz Dabravelskas.

second place

• St. Roch Church, Krasnobrud, Poland
• Photography: ‌ Damian Yankovich

Third place

• Sachiko Palace of Ukraine
• Photography: Zisco Sethi

Below you can see the works of other winners.

• Stephen ارarnicki Monument, Poland
• Photographer: Małgorzata Pawelczyk

• Gali Mantapa, Karnataka, India
• Photographer: Basavarajmin21

• Fort Crown Point, New York
• Photographer: Daniel M. Horowitz

• Dormitory Cathedral, Kharkiv, Ukraine
• Photographer: Ekaterina Polish

• Ross Castle, Ireland
• Photographer: Mark McGuire

• Nashtifan windmills, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran
• Photographer: Hadi Dehghanpour

• Church of Intercession, Russia
• Photographer: Yashin

We hope you enjoy seeing the winning photos of the 2021 Historical Monuments Competition. What do you think about these images? Which one did you like the most? For more information on winning works, photographers and locations, visit the Wiki Loves Monuments website.