Cultural Heritage and Notable Figures: documenting Ukraine’s history on Wikipedia

The “Cultural Heritage and Notable Figures” campaign is Wikimedia Ukraine’s annual initiative that brings people together to preserve and promote Ukraine’s cultural heritage on Wikipedia. Participants create and improve articles about historical landmarks and the people who have shaped — and continue to shape — Ukraine.

In the summer 2025, participants created or significantly improved 570 articles, including 137 focused on Crimean Tatar cultural heritage. This is one of the most popular campaigns we run, and it resulted in hundreds of articles that are now accessible to readers and help deepen understanding of Ukraine’s cultural legacy.

Among the newly created and improved articles about heritage sites are entries on the Brotherhood Building of the Assumption Cathedral in Kharkiv and the isars of the Crimean mountains — remains of medieval fortifications, monasteries, and castles located in hard-to-reach areas.

The campaign also included many articles about notable individuals. For example, new articles were created about Ayshe Kokieva, a Crimean Tatar poet and author of children’s literature, and Olgierd Strashynskyi, a conductor and composer from Mariupol. These articles help bring a human dimension to history and culture.

Another important outcome was the creation of articles about lesser-known cultural heritage sites, many of which were previously almost absent from Wikipedia — even for Ukrainian readers. These include castles such as Rohatyn, Pidkamin, Lokachi, Kukilnyk, Mezhyrich, Novo-Chortoryisk, Novo-Chetvertynsk, Kalush, Kamin-Kashyrskyi, Dunaivtsi, and others.

A dedicated part of the campaign focused on Crimean Tatar cultural heritage. Within this category, more than one hundred articles were created about history, culture, architecture, and notable figures of the Crimean Tatar people, an ethnic minority in Ukraine whose home region Crimea was occupied by Russia in 2014. These are often topics with limited available sources and low representation across languages, which makes this work especially important for preserving and increasing their visibility.

Jury member Maryna Chala shared her reflection:

“While evaluating articles on Crimean Tatar heritage, I followed formal criteria — structure, sources, style. But sometimes, as you read more closely, you move beyond fact-checking and begin to feel the story itself. This is especially true when contributors work with limited sources, where even the smallest piece of information becomes valuable.
The article that affected me the most was ‘Denial of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union.’ It is not just about historical events — it is about the systematic denial of a people’s right to their identity, and an attempt to erase it, something that is still felt by future generations.”

The contest took place during Russia’s ongoing full-scale war in Ukraine. Despite uncertainty and difficult conditions, participants continued their work. This once again shows how important it is to preserve cultural memory, even — and especially — in times like these.

The competition included several award categories: highest-quality contribution, best new articles, best improved articles, best newcomer articles, and a special nomination for Crimean Tatar cultural heritage.

It was especially encouraging to see that some of the best newcomers were graduates of our training program for people aged 55+.

We thank everyone who contributed — participants, the organizing team, and the jury for their thorough and thoughtful work.

We plan to continue this campaign in the future, as there are still many gaps to fill and many stories that deserve to be documented.

You can explore all articles created and improved within the Cultural Heritage and Notable Figures campaign at this link.

Articles submitted to the special nomination dedicated to Crimean Tatar heritage can be found here.

The main campaign page, including information about the winners, is available on the Ukrainian Wikipedia.