Wiki Loves Monuments 2019 in Malta exhibition launch - English
Winners of the world’s largest photography competition exhibited at National Museum of Archaeology
11 November 2019
The winners of the fourth edition of Wiki Loves Monuments in Malta were awarded at an awards ceremony held on Thursday at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. Wiki Loves Monuments, the Guinness World Record holder for the largest photography competition, was held for the fourth time in Malta this year. The competition brings together photographers from around the world to take stunning pictures of our cultural heritage to be shared on Wikipedia.
Through this competition, the public was invited to submit photographs of Malta’s built heritage throughout the month of September. The 10 local winning photographs will be submitted to the international Wiki Loves Monuments contest, where they will compete against winning photos from the other 49 countries taking part around the world.
A panorama of Valletta by Olga Prystai was selected as the winning photograph of the Maltese competition. Other photographs in the top 10 included the interior of the Mosta Rotunda, the Church of St Catherine of Italy in Valletta, and the corridor inside the Grandmaster’s Palace, amongst others. The winning photographs were selected by a jury composed of local and international experts within the field of cultural heritage, photography and Wikipedia.
These photos, together with other submissions from Malta and around the world will be exhibited at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta until 15 December. Speaking at the awards ceremony at the National Museum of Archaeology, Wikimedia Community Malta President Tony Micallef explained that this year’s competition took place in over 50 countries across the world. Since the competition started in 2010, over 2 million photos have been submitted, with last year’s competition attracting over 250,000 submissions across 49 countries. This is the fourth time that Malta participated.
"Heritage Malta has been giving its support to this initiative since its inception. The Agency believes that our national monuments should be exposed more through the digital medium in a more creative way. In this respect, Heritage Malta through the Digitization Unit, is gearing towards making museums and sites more accessible through various projects and initiatives. This requires not simply investing in equipment but also changing current procedures and the way Heritage Malta museums, sites and workers operate in this field adopting digital technologies" said Russell Muscat, Manager Digitisation Unit within Heritage Malta.
Winning photos from 2018 include the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Iran and the Al-Khazneh temple in Petra, Jordan. Top entries in the local competition included photos of St John’s Co-Cathedral and the Chapel of St Anthony of Padua at Fort Manoel, amongst others.
Wiki Loves Monuments in Malta is organised by Wikimedia Community Malta (WCM) in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv and Heritage Malta. More information is available at www.wikimalta.org/WLM2017 or on the WCM Facebook page.
WCM is a group of active Wikimedians who have come together to encourage and support the uptake of Wiki-related activity among Maltese individuals and communities. Details about upcoming WCM activities are available at www.wikimalta.org.
