The 2024 edition of Wiki Loves Monuments in Ukraine is on its final stretch, and we wanted to draw attention to the special category dedicated to collecting photos of the immovable cultural heritage of Ukraine that were taken with film cameras. It is a way to preserve memories, which is especially relevant during the war times — but it can be a relevant project even for countries at peace as floods, fires, and other disasters artificial or natural can destroy both films and monuments themselves pictured there. So let’s review the results and lessons learnt so far.
Wiki Loves Monuments — a photo contest of cultural heritage sites around the world — has been organised in Ukraine since 2012. One of the challenges we have faced is keeping it interesting and engaging not only for the participants, but also for the volunteers for over 10 years. Since 2013 a concept of “special categories” was introduced — highlighting some aspects (for example, “Musical monuments” — architectural and historic sites connected to famous musicians or their compositions as a special subset of monuments) or origins (like Greek or Armenian monuments on the territory of Ukraine). These special categories can be quite educational, as they make one look at the history of monuments more closely, to see them in context.
The 2022 edition was especially challenging in the wake of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and a need to balance a feeling of urgency to document monuments, while trying to make sure people are not roaming around taking pictures for their own safety when rocket attacks are a daily routine. That led to organising a special category for scanned films and/or scanned prints of the photos taken with a film camera for the first time — to motivate people to take a long, hard look at their personal photo archives, including maybe that time 30 years ago when they took a family trip to some place. Sure, quite a lot of those pictures would be not professional, and maybe with some people posing in the front… but if a monument in the background got rebuilt or destroyed, Wikipedia would still benefit from even a family picture under a free licence. We had also thought that while modern photographers can keep quite a lot of their works online or on cloud, photographic films might be both more perishable, as they are physical, and less convenient for people to take along, when they have to flee or move.
The immediate lesson learnt after the first run of organising such a campaign was the changes needed to the upload campaign — like requesting participants to not only to include the date (which the system does not automatically “read” for a scanned picture, as it does for the ones taken with digital cameras), but also the name of a camera, film, lens, etc. With the rules changed for 2023 some uploaders still did not fill this in or just not remember the details, but some did, and that gave more ground to make a judgement call about whether to accept or disqualify the pictures submitted. Another lesson learnt was that tools used matter, as the online WLX Jury Tool was not built to show this additional information to the jury, so they therefore could not take into account the context – and it is tough to compare a photo that was taken in the early 2000s with a compact camera with a photo that was taken with a professional film camera of the 2023 year… It also became clear that even though modern pictures taken with film cameras are still of value, there is a need to really focus on the photos’ value for Wikipedia itself — such as the preservation of the monument, changes to it, restoration, lost landscapes due to new buildings, etc. — before rating even their technical parameters, treating them more like “valued images” on Wikimedia Commons. So a jury needs to have a mixture of photographers, historians, and Wikipedians, to make sure none of the aspects will be lost.
Here is the list of the 2023 special category jury (alphabetically):
- Andrii Chekanovskyi is a historian, archaeologist and photographer, member of the National Union of Photographers of Ukraine;
- Nataliia Lastovets is a contributor to the Ukrainian Wikipedia, a volunteer, winner and participant of the previous year’s Wiki Loves Monuments, former Board member of Wikimedia Ukraine;
- Anton M. (pseudonym) is a content creator and participant of Wiki Loves Monuments;
- Myroslav Pereimybida is a volunteer, prize-winner and participant of the previous years’ Wiki Loves Monuments;
- Serhii Petrov is a historian, journalist, photographer, documentarian of Russian war crimes in the Kharkiv region and a contributor to the Ukrainian Wikipedia;
- Mark Volkoff (creative pseudonym) is a professional photographer and a participant of the previous years’ Wiki Loves Monuments.
Ten photos awarded in 2023 are presented below. They are organised in subcategories: “Lost unique ones” (photos of lost monuments), “Historical Shots” (pictures of now majorly rebuilt monuments; irreversible changes in the monument or its premises), “20th century on the film” (photos of monuments that went through no or little changes since 20th century) and “Contemporaneity on the film” (recorded monuments since 2001 with no huge changes nowadays to the monuments themselves).
“Lost unique ones“
A picture depicting a house from Tukholka village of Lviv Oblast was awarded here. The photo was taken by Viktor Polianko on June 6, 2006, when he spent a summer day photographing the objects of the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Folkways of Ukraine with a Kodak KB10 film camera. Unbeknownst to Viktor in a few months — on September 15, 2006 — the house burnt down, arson suspected. Viktor was motivated by the special category to finally sit down and digitise his pictures from almost 20 years ago — and so he uploaded this photo. Currently, this is the only photo of this monument on Wikimedia Commons.
“This photo is the “raison d’être” for the sake of which this contest should be held. Practically speaking, in 2006 not a lot of people even had mobile phones with cameras or even digital cameras in Ukraine. And I would say that taking pictures of “some old houses” was not very reasonable back then, because though film development might be free, printing was not… Viktor’s photoshoot captured valuable images, although at the time it might have seemed very uncommon” – shared Olha Krezub, a member of the organising committee.
“Historical Shots”
First Place
The photo of the Assumption Church in Osynove village, Luhansk Oblast, was awarded first place. It was taken by Andrii Sheiko.
The photo was taken in 2007 from the southeast. Nowadays the church has been partially reconstructed and looks very different. This photo is also awarded as the best photo of Luhansk Oblast in 2023. Andrii Sheiko explained his motivation for participating in the contest: “I want to share my best old film photos with those who are interested”.
Andrii Chekanovskyi, a jury member, commented on the photo: “It was rated high for its usefulness and authenticity as the monument itself suffered from devastating modernization”.
To illustrate the changes in the monument, there is a non-film photo of the same church from almost the same angle, taken on 1 November 2015 by Viacheslav Nepran.
Second place
The photo of a windmill from Yunakivka village, Sumy Oblast, located at National Museum of Folk Architecture and Folkways of Ukraine, Kyiv, was awarded second place. It was also taken on June 6, 2006 by Viktor Polianko.
The jury noted that the photo pictures then still intact blades of the windmills. For the comparison, their digital photo taken on October 21, 2012 is shown below.
Third place
A photo of the Assumption Church in Bakhchysarai, Crimea, was awarded third place. It was taken in 1986 by Serhii Tarabara. “The shot was taken before the chapel was built above the entrance. It is of great value as a photo of a monument before its reconstruction”, commented Andrii Chekanovskyi, a jury member.
For comparison, a photo with a panoramic view of the Assumption Monastery of the Caves dated October 16, 2000 is shown below.
“20th century on the film”
First place
The jury awarded the first place in this category to a photo of the Dulber Palace in Koreiz, Crimea. It was taken on June 6, 1993 by Andrii Didkivskyi.
Andrii explained his motivation for participating in the special category: “When I was at school, it was an event of a kind to go on a trip to Crimea. That is why I remember each shot well from that trip. There is no need for me to rewatch the films to pick shots to upload them for the contest”.
The word “Dulber” (dülber in Crimean) can be translated as “beautiful” or “endearing” from Crimean Tatar. Built during the Romantic era, the palace is a Moorish snow-white building with silver domes, arched windows and crenellated walls. It is decorated with blue ornaments and colourful mosaics. Because of its whiteness, the palace stands out among the Crimean Mountains. Above the main entrance the phrase “May Allah bless those who have entered this place” is written in Arabic.
Andrii Chekanovskyi, a jury member, said: “This film shot has “mellowness” to it and has an aftertaste of the past”.
Second place
The photo of secular quarters of the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai, Crimea, was awarded the second place in this category. It was taken in 1986 by Serhii Tarabara.
Third place
A photo of the Catherine’s Church in Chernihiv was awarded the third place. It was taken in the 1990s by Serhii Tarabara. This photo shows that neither the monument nor its premises has changed drastically over the last 30 years.
“Contemporaneity on the film“
First place
The jury awarded first place in this category to the infrared photo of a mill from Kudriave village in Sumy Oblast, located at National Museum of Folk Architecture and Folkways of Ukraine, Kyiv. The photo was taken on June 8, 2023 by Ruslan Hrybiuk.
Second place
The second place was awarded to a photo of the Church of Saint John the Theologian in Velykyi Brataliv village, Zhytomyr Oblast. It is the first illustration of this monument on Wikimedia Commons. It was taken on October 13, 2022 by Ivan Sadovyi.
Third place

The black and white photo of the Nicholas Church from Horodyshche village, Chernihiv Oblast, Pyrohiv, Kyiv, was awarded third place according to jury’s points. It was taken on June 16, 2023 by Ruslan Hrybiuk.
Ruslan said that for him “a photo is something extraordinary, a time machine that was once a dream for romantics and science fiction writers. It is a way to stop time and have a look into the past to observe people and things, how they were in the particular moment of history. Method and technology changes in taking photos evokes my interest; photographers who worked in different countries in the 20th century help to understand the reality of that time, their life and path are the objects of my research and study.
Since I was a child, I liked drawing, studied at art school and college. When I was 12, I started taking pictures with a camera called “Smena Symbol”. My father was a photographer, our family had lots of both black-and-white photos and photos in colour. We also had photocameras, films and reagents and other necessities for film photography of the 80s-90s. My mother travelled and brought some postcards back from all over the world: the USA, Japan, exotic islands in the ocean. Both my sister and I liked to look closely at them. It was something incredible, the colours were gorgeous, rich and bright, unavailable in our region.
Both a camera and lens are living beings that have their own character, style and spirit. Life is changing and progress is making its way, everyone is a photographer now, mobile phones have cameras, digital cameras are breaking records in terms of megapixels, dynamic range, ISO and other parameters every year – and that’s wonderful. I don’t think that digital photography is superior to film photography or vice versa. I use different equipment and cameras, but each has its own charm and unique style. It’s like painting: the same theme of a picture painted with oil paints will differ from a picture painted with watercolours, with a brush – from a palette knife, etc.
It is interesting for me to experiment in order to see the world around me not as it is, but as it can be. Different photography techniques and technologies help me to do those things. It is very interesting and exciting to look at familiar things, events and places from another perspective. Besides, I feel motivated and inspired by a lot of interesting people, photographers who love this craft and have their own style of presenting reality that is not like anything ordinary. The colours, tone, halftone, artistic and emotional component of the photos – that’s what attracts me and encourages me to continue doing it. I enjoy the process of taking photos as much as the photos themselves. It’s nice to walk around the city or park, in the woods or by the river with a camera. This way I relax and have fun: like a fisherman who sits on the bank of a river with a fishing rod, regardless of the result – whether something is caught or not”.
These and other winning photos from the 2023 Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine contest can be found on Wikimedia Commons here.
As the 2024 edition is nearing its end, the team is starting to organise jury’s work on this and other contest categories. There is no doubt that there would be more lessons learnt from this edition as well, as there is no such thing as a project perfectly done.

Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation