«Cultural Heritage of Ukraine»: Wikipedia calls for documenting endangered heritage

The building of the Mykola Arkas Lyceum, destroyed by Russian shelling. Photo by NikVesti

An annual information campaign on Wikipedia dedicated to cultural and historical monuments that are under threat of destruction or have already been lost is running until 4 May. Everyone is invited to participate in the contest «Cultural Heritage of Ukraine».

The announcement is published on the competition website.

According to Olha Milianovych, a spokeswoman for the NGO «Wikimedia Ukraine», the campaign aims to preserve the memory of cultural sites that may disappear without a trace.

Advertising

«The campaign «Cultural Heritage of Ukraine» is held every year on the occasion of the International Day of Monuments and Sites to draw attention to those monuments that we have already lost or may lose soon. And, of course, we are losing our heritage because of the Russian military aggression, so, according to the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, as of 25 March, the total number of damaged cultural heritage sites in Ukraine is already 1419,» commented Olha Milianovych.

You can join the project «Cultural heritage of Ukraine» on Wikipedia in the following ways:

1. add new objects to the list of monuments: search for information about architectural and historical monuments that are lost or destroyed in your city or region;
2. check if there is an article about them on Wikipedia;
3. if not, write a comment or add to the list on the project page;
4. write or add an article about such a monument. You can write not only about architectural monuments, but also about historical monuments — buildings where historical events took place;
5. try to find the right illustration in the repository using keywords or search your own archives for a photo of the monument that can be added to the article.

Participants who create or significantly add to Wikipedia articles during the campaign will receive certificates of participation and souvenirs from the organisers. To do this, be sure to record your contribution in the section «Participants and articles» on the project page.

The list of articles recommended for creation and improvement can be found on the project page.

As a reminder, in 2024, the article about the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi became the leader in terms of the number of views on Ukrainian Wikipedia. It was viewed more than one million times.