Reducing the content gap on rural areas is one of the great challenges of free knowledge. With this goal in mind, the Wikimunicipio del Año (Wikimunicipality of the Year) project was born, which in 2025 celebrated its third edition in Alpuente (Valencia), following previous experiences in l’Énova (2023) and Potries (2024).
Over six months of work (between July and December 2025), Alpuente has become an example of how collaboration between local institutions, the educational community and Wikimedia projects can transform the digital presence of a small, scattered territory with great heritage value.
A small town, a huge heritage
Alpuente is a municipality in the region of La Serranía, in the north-western interior of the province of Valencia. With around 700 inhabitants spread across 12 villages, an area of 138 km² (larger than the municipality of Valencia itself) and a complex terrain of mountains, ravines and plains, it is a territory where natural, historical and ethnological heritage coexists with the challenge of depopulation and isolation.
Precisely for this reason, Alpuente was the ideal location for this project: it has a lot to tell and has been underrepresented in open knowledge projects until now.
This project has been made possible thanks to the collaboration with Etnoxarxa, a network of museums of the Provincial Council of Valencia coordinated by L’ETNO, which enabled contact to be established with the Ethnological Museum of Alpuente, the Town Council and the IES La Serranía secondary school.
This is how a shared approach emerged: to work with the local population, involve the educational community and document the territory from within.
Open activities and genuine participation
Throughout the project, talks, workshops, photography outings, Wikitakes and educational activities were organised, tailored to different audiences. Participation was remarkable considering the size of the municipality and the educational centre.
In total, 73 people participated directly in the activities, 39 of whom were new to Wikimedia projects. In addition, there were spontaneous contributions to specific articles, a clear sign that the content generated has sparked interest beyond the project itself.
Documenting the territory, step by step
Even before the public activities, the project involved intensive fieldwork to gather documentation. All inhabited villages and several abandoned settlements were visited, participants took part in the pilgrimage of the Virgin of Consolation and Saint Blaise, and areas that were difficult to access were visited.
These trips made it possible to capture images and videos of places that had been little documented: villages, landscapes, religious heritage, historical infrastructure, abandoned settlements, and unique features such as verónicas (rain gutters), some of which are located in very remote areas.
Wikitakes and photo contest
The Wikitakes event on 18 October was one of the highlights of the project. Although eight people uploaded images directly, the activity received additional logistical support and the collaboration of a local photographer on the jury.
The result was a highly diverse collection of visual content, particularly valuable for its geographical and thematic coverage.
Education and free knowledge in the classroom
The educational project has been one of the pillars of the Wikimunicipio del Año 2025. The teaching staff at La Serranía High School were involved from the outset, integrating Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects into their teaching plans.
All the students at the school created Wikipedia accounts, and 21 students in the 2nd and 4th years of secondary school actively participated in the editing sessions. The topics covered (villages in the municipality, the Sabinar de Alpuente, and the GR-37 trail) were directly related to their environment and to content already present in the curriculum.
In a single editing session, the students developed new articles and made substantial improvements. Part of this work will continue to evolve throughout the school year.
Results: measurable and sustainable impact
The project results show a clear impact on several Wikimedia projects:
Wikipedia
- 40 new articles and 51 improved articles
- Content in Spanish and Catalan
- Notable participation by new editors, especially students
Wikimedia Commons
- 3,048 files uploaded, including videos
- Creation of 247 new categories
- Extensive and diverse visual documentation of the municipality
Wikidata
- Very significant qualitative improvement
- Items with coordinates: from 31% to 80%
- Items with images: from 5% to 54%
- A leap that multiplies the possibilities for future reuse of this data
Much more than just figures
The Wikimunicipio del Año 2025 is not just a collection of images or articles. It is a process of local empowerment, shared learning and knowledge creation from the ground up.
Alpuente demonstrates that free knowledge can also be built in small municipalities, with engaged communities and strong partnerships. And when that happens, the impact goes far beyond Wikimedia projects.
At Wikimedia Spain, we continue to work so that more rural municipalities can find in free knowledge a tool to tell their story and share it with the world.
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