Wiki Loves Monuments 2025

We are pleased to announce the next edition of the 'Wiki Loves Monuments’ competition. This is an open photo competition so we invite all photography enthusiasts to participate. The 10 best photos from this year’s Polish edition of 'Wiki Loves Monuments’ will go to the international final of the Wiki Loves Monuments competition, where they will compete with photos from dozens of countries.

The aim of the competition is to photograph Polish and World Heritage sites and preserve them for future generations. The idea is to collect documentation of Poland’s material heritage and make it available free of charge to anyone in the world.

The competition photographs will become part of Wikipedia’s multimedia resources and will be able to illustrate entries in its almost 300 language versions. The photos can also be used – completely free of charge – for educational or promotional purposes.

The competition takes place from 1 to 30 September.

I’ve known about the ‘Wiki loves monuments’ competition for years, and I think it’s a great way to enrich the Commons collection with valuable and beautiful images of historic buildings scattered all over Poland. I remember from my architectural and art-historical studies courses that often the lecturers had only one slide of a building at their disposal – it was difficult to understand from the slide the complexity of the building or even what makes it valuable enough to be considered a monument. And yet it is impossible to go around the whole of Poland as part of a student course to see all the valuable buildings with one’s own eyes. In this context, Wikimedia Commons and the images created as part of the competition provide a much better understanding of historical architectural treasures.

Radosław Gajda

Architecture is a good idea

The competition is part of the global initiative Wiki Loves Monuments.

The idea for the competition was born in the Netherlands in 2010. A year later, 5,500 photographers from 18 European countries (including Poland) took part in the competition for prizes, submitting more than 168,000 photos – thanks to which Wiki Loves Monuments 2011 entered the Guinness Book of Records in the category 'Largest Photo Contest’. The third edition of the competition, which took place from 1 to 30 September 2012, has already covered the whole world: 15,000 people from 35 countries have submitted more than 365,000 photos.

Gswito, Wieczór nad zamkiem w Będzinie, CC BY-SA 4.0

Unobvious Silesia

For the second year running, the competition will also award special prizes in the Unobvious Silesia category, organised in cooperation with the Wojciech Korfanty Institute in Katowice. In this category, three photos depicting the sights of the Silesian Voivodeship will be awarded.

The photos will be judged on their unconventional approach to the subject (e.g. photographing a well-known monument from an unknown angle) or revealing perspective (photographs of little-known monuments, e.g. those located in small towns or rural areas), or non-stereotypical representation of Silesia (e.g. historic parks or palaces).

Discover your Silesia! We are counting on your imagination in dealing with the topic.

Useful links

JURY 2024

Ewa Caban

Architect, professionally active in the field of tangible and intangible monuments, Head of the Cultural Heritage Centre at the Wojciech Korfanty Institute in Katowice (formerly the Regional Institute of Culture); previously Deputy Conservator of Monuments in the Silesian Voivodeship (1999-2006) and Acting Conservator of Monuments in the Silesian Voivodeship (2006-2007). Author of articles on the region's cultural heritage, author and co-author of numerous conservation documentations.
Wikipedian since 2011, populariser of the idea of open knowledge, member of the Wikimedia Polska Association, editor of Wikipedia, Wikisłownik and Wikiresources. Organiser of the "Fridays with Wikipedia" editing workshops in Katowice since 2018. Wikitriner. Within the framework of GLAM she cooperated with, among others, the Trakt Cultural Tourism Centre in Poznań and the Museum of Metallurgy in Chorzów.

Jacek Durski

Photographer, computer scientist, teacher. He graduated from the Academy of Photography in Krakow. Since 2014 he has published photographs in various publications, and since 2019 his works can be seen in photographic exhibitions (individual and collective). He likes to photograph architecture, post-industrial objects; he creates series on social issues. His photographs have been exhibited and awarded several times at national photography festivals. He has been involved with Wikipedia for nearly 20 years. Since 2014 he runs the School and Academic Project/XLO. Co-creator of the Katowice project. He organises photography classes and open-air workshops with students of WSTI in Katowice.

Radosław Gajda

Architect, lecturer, youtuber, Varsovian of the Year 2023. He taught the history of architecture and art at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology and the European Academy of Arts. After his academic career, he started creating a programme about architecture called GOOD IDEA on YouTube. He is the co-author of the popular book ‘Archistorie’ and the author of the collection of essays ‘Four Dimensions of Architecture “and the architectural detective story ”Koszykowa 55’. He has also published academic works. He was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland for popularising architecture.

Krzysztof Koszewski

Habilitated doctor (PhD), engineer-architect, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. Member of the Program Council of the National Heritage Institute in 2014-17. Author of the monograph "Images of Architecture. Representations of architectural ideas in the context of contemporary visual culture"; author and co-author of publications and member of research teams dealing with the application of new technologies in architecture, knowledge management of the architectural heritage, information and communication aspects of the creative process. He teaches visual communication at his home department.

Photographer working on urban and architectural themes. Winner of the first prize in the photo contest "Beijing in the eyes of foreigners" in 2017, co-author of the collective photo album "Streets of London" published by teNeues.

Kamila Neuman

Lawyer by education, for many years associated with cultural institutions where, among other things, she coordinated exhibitions and cooperated with artists. A passionate photographer, winner of, among others, the competition for the 20th anniversary of FOTOJOKER in Poland, involved in the activities of the TiT Collective of female photographers. An active user and editor of the Wikimedia Commons project, an enthusiast of free multimedia, on a daily basis a manager of Open Culture in the Wikimedia Polska Association. Coordinator of the Wiki Science Photography Competition 2021 and the Wiki Loves Monuments Competition 2022.

Natalia Szcześniak

Architect and urban planner, youtuber. Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, she also studied scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Co-author of the bestselling book Archistorie. Since 2014, she has co-created the GOOD IDEA programme, in which she popularises knowledge about architecture, art and urban space. She is the originator and co-author of the GOOD IDEA e-learning platform and online courses, including the course ‘How to choose a flat’ helping people find their way in the difficult housing market. She is the publisher of the book Four Dimensions of Architecture.
All levels of her activity are linked by action for a better designed world - from the wise location of high-rise buildings to equal access to public toilets. Awarded the Golden Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland for her popularisation activities.