Did you visit your grandma in the village this summer? The "Wiki Loves Villages" competition collects any photos of 23 thousand towns, villages, and farmsteads in Belarus
Belarus has become a testing ground for the launch of a new international photo contest, which aims to collect high-quality images of thousands upon thousands of rural settlements that remain unillustrated on Wikipedia.
An old woman sings traditional ritual songs during the harvest festival in Khatynichy village, Hantsavichy district. Photo: Aliaksei Stalyarou / Wikimedia Commons
The project, titled "Wiki Loves Villages 2026", runs from August 15 to 31.
The authors of the initiative drew attention to an obvious disproportion: while cities and towns usually have a sufficient number of images in repositories, articles about small settlements often lack any photographs.
Belarus and Kazakhstan have been chosen as pilot countries this year to rectify the situation.
What and how to photograph
The organizers note that general panoramas of settlements are most in demand, for which drone photography is ideal. However, in Belarusian realities, such shots are problematic.
But Wikipedia will also welcome ordinary views of central streets, squares, taken from the ground, as well as more specific shots. The publication of photographs of agriculture, machinery, transport infrastructure, public and religious buildings, traditional and modern architecture is permitted.
Agricultural machinery on the Halshany — Traby highway, near the bridge over the Klyava River. Photo: Tess Mattew / Wikimedia Commons
Local residents can also be the subject of photos, with their prior consent, as can public events, fairs, and sports competitions.
At the same time, photographers are reminded of the need to comply with the rules of freedom of panorama to avoid copyright infringement when photographing certain architectural or artistic objects. According to US law, which governs the US-registered Wikimedia Foundation, copyright protection lasts 70+1 years from the author's death.
Due to the absence of freedom of panorama in Belarus, photos of any Lenin monuments and Soviet cultural centers may be removed due to copyright infringement, but traditional architecture can be uploaded without fear.
House with a beautiful porch in Klimavichy. Photo: Ihar Tkachou / Wikimedia Commons
How to do it
Given that there are about 23 thousand rural settlements in Belarus, the organizers have created a special interactive map for strict content sorting. Participants need to select the appropriate region and district on it, then find the desired village in the list and click the individual upload button for that specific settlement.
Users are warned that using the standard Wikimedia Commons upload wizard will result in images not being counted for the contest without additional technical manipulation, and files may mistakenly illustrate other articles.
The project aims to significantly expand the free database of visual data about regions, which will allow thousands of existing encyclopedic articles to be supplemented with relevant illustrations and reliably preserve the memory of the Belarusian village.