Wikimedia CEE Hub/Microgrants/report/Photographing cultural heritage works in the city of Kırklareli
- By: Sadrettin
Wiki Loves Monuments is, as known, an international event focused on photographing historical structures. In preparation for this event, we organized a small-scale photography trip in Turkey. With Microgrant support, we conducted a 3-day cultural and photography trip to Kırklareli during the last week of May. The main purpose of this event was to strengthen collaboration and communication among community volunteers. I truly believe we achieved this goal. Additionally, during this trip, I gained the following important experiences:
| Additional part of the report (Lessons learned) |
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Before the trip, we listed which cultural heritage sites had photographs on Wikimedia Commons and which did not, and we planned to prioritize those that were missing. However, when we went into the field, we realized that re-photographing all cultural heritage sites—whether they had photos or not—was valuable. Photographs taken in different years help us observe changes over time. Therefore, we tried to visit all the sites on our map. Having a Wikidata QID and a Commons category for each cultural heritage site provides great convenience. When this information is missing, creating them later requires considerable time and effort. More than half of the sites we had lacked Commons categories; this required manually creating each category and significantly slowed down the process. Uploading the captured images requires as much effort as taking the photographs. While experienced users can manage this process, creating Commons categories and identifying Wikidata QIDs can be quite challenging for new users. We took over 1,000 photographs of more than 100 cultural heritage sites. Now that the categories for these items are ready, uploading photographs related to these sites will be much easier in the future. The cameras we used also attracted the attention of local people. The documentation of cultural heritage sites was welcomed by the public. This interest demonstrated that photography is valuable not only for documentation but also for raising awareness. During the trip, we had the chance to observe not only tangible cultural heritage but also intangible cultural heritage. On the first evening, we attended an outdoor wedding; on another day, we chatted with street vendors in the city and took photographs together. We also documented local dishes and desserts. One of the most interesting things we learned during the trip was that a bathhouse from the Ottoman period had been restored and is now used as a municipal council building. We couldn't enter the building because we didn't coincide with the days it was open. However, this example was noteworthy in terms of the repurposing of historical structures. |
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- Financial report
| Type of expense | Description | Amount (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | At least four people (3 nights) | €197.38 |
| Food and beverages | Lunch and dinner expenses | €189.50 |
| Food and beverages | Tea, coffee and other snacks | €39.48 |
| Insurance | Travel insurance | €10.53 |
| Fuel | Vehicle fuel cost | €78.95 |
| Renting | Car rental fee | €157.91 |
| TOTAL | €671.29 | |
- Achieved metrics
We managed to achieve all our target metrics. Main results in the following table:
| Metric | Target | Result | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images | no data | >1.000 | |
| Cultural monuments | no data | >100 |