Wiki Loves Heritage Jury Report 2025

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Wiki Loves Heritage is an annual photo contest run by Wikimedia Belgium. We use the jury tool Montage to judge the photos to determine the winners of the photo contest.

Why are we organizing this competition?

This is the eighth time we have organized Wiki Loves Heritage, as an extension of the global Wiki Loves Monuments that has been organized since 2010.

It builds on the Belgian Freedom of Panorama from 2016, and the year of European Heritage in 2018.

The reason why we are organizing Wiki Loves Heritage is to:

to preserve heritage and monuments on Wikimedia Commons
to build an inventory on Wikidata and structured Data oo Commons
images to be used on Wikipedia

Some participants contribute only to Wikimedia Commons, while others work on multiple Wikipedias or Wikidata. Users are encouraged to use structured data on Commons.

Heritage Monuments Denderland

Winners

The winners of Wiki Loves Heritage 2025 in Belgium are:

Café Woeste in Wieze

A photograph that draws you in immediately with its atmosphere and cosiness. A balanced composition thanks to the counterweight of the atypical bar table with black cloth. Good capture of the sunlight. Perfect balance between daylight and additional lighting. A nostalgic photograph that charms with the warm colour of the wood and the light. It refers to bygone times when trains were furnished with natural materials.

A beautiful illustration of the heritage of our historic railways. The accessories (including the suitcases) complete the picture, as if the train carriage were still in use. An invitation to travel! The warm colours and perfect lighting immediately take you on a nostalgic journey.

A nostalgic atmosphere for anyone who has ever travelled on these trains from another era. Beautiful integration of this railway furniture into a hotel environment and thanks to the photographer for evoking this dream. An ode to all the craftsmen who created this decor. From a technical point of view, this photograph illustrates the craftsmanship in the field of lighting, particularly the reflection of daylight on the woodwork.

Havenhuis in Antwerp

An exceptionally successful capture of the delicate light purple colour of the evening sky. The photo radiates a tranquillity that you would not expect given the aggressive appearance of the building. It is the reflection that brings balance. A balanced composition that does justice to Belgian civil engineering. Particularly successful.

A photograph that tells a story, that of the evolution of Antwerp's port architecture towards modern technologies. The photograph, with its fleeing lines, perfectly emphasises this transition in time. The old barracks and the new diamond-shaped building, as well as the concrete structure that connects the whole, are reflected in the water surface. The movement of the water creates a blurred image that in no way detracts from the subject.

The combination of the old building and the new-style structure against the minimalist background is very successful. The background with the buildings on the left and the light pole on the right is nicely aligned and complements the whole. The beautiful reflection in the water brings a certain calmness to this majestic building along the quay.

Egmont Palace Brussels

This photograph relies on its diagonals. By cropping out the bottom of the staircase, the viewer is given more direct and inviting access. Beautiful and harmonious distribution of light and rich marble in shades of grey and red.

This photograph of the monumental staircase of the Egmont Palace reflects the richness of the marble used to achieve this perfection! The flowing lines of the banisters, perfectly framed by the photographer, reinforce this composition. The viewer is free to identify the paintings and sculptures in this setting.

The various sculptures and paintings invite you to take a closer look at the details. Sumptuous marble and a majestic location: it makes you want to walk around with your back straight and your head held high! The lines of the immense staircase are an invitation to see more.

Africa Museum Brussels

I had never seen this building from this angle before. An excellent choice by the photographer, thanks in part to the cropping at the bottom of the water feature. The museum is an elegant building that now takes on an extra light dimension. The sky is beautifully captured with fluffy pastel clouds in a lilac colour that complements the green of the water and the narrow lawn.

The Royal Museum for Central Africa, the former summer palace of King Leopold II, is reflected in the large basin and masterfully resembles a ship moored at the quay. The waves captured by the photographer in his photo give the impression of a call from the ocean to make a new beginning. The photo is well framed, with nothing to disturb this panorama.

A beautiful reflection in the water gives the photo a balanced equilibrium. I would have liked it even more if the museum itself had been slightly sharper. The angle of view with the beautiful reflection of the water gives the photo a fairy-tale quality. Peace and tranquillity: you just want to be there. My favourite photo.

Sint-Pieters church in Leuven

A very successful capture of the dark blue sky, which acts as a counterweight to St Peter's Church in Leuven. Good balance between the strict centre of the church façade and the more frivolous right and left sides. The pointed towers of the town hall find their counterpart in the black spire on the left. Severity of asymmetry. Cold and harsh light. A very inviting atmosphere, which ends in a closed church door.

St Peter's Church in the centre of Leuven is well lit, despite a somewhat distracting light bulb, and reveals its asymmetrical shape to the viewer, a sign that the work is not yet complete. This atmospheric photo, taken by a night photographer, shows the tranquillity of the city. These well-captured images of calmness do the city good. The road that leads us to the church gives balance to the asymmetrical building. The lighting adds a touch of mystique.

Looking at the photograph, we are drawn to the church and invited to take a closer look at the façade. The unbalanced structure of the building (higher on the left than on the right) and the absence of a spire give the building its own character. The lighting pole on the right adds an extra touch.

De abdijmolen in Herkenrode

Photo with an exceptionally calming atmosphere. It is dominated by the grey-pink branches of the shrubbery, which take up a quarter of the photo. The whole creates an almost abstract composition in balance with the tree structures. The building blends into its surroundings and does not demand attention. There is a mystical atmosphere due to the morning glow. The rising sun warms this peaceful landscape: beautiful light.

This morning photo of the watermill at Herkenrode Abbey reflects the tranquillity that surrounds this monument. We see the rising sun through the bare trees, we can almost hear the flowing water and the creaking of the mill. The tranquillity of this setting is clearly palpable in the photo.

The reflection in the water of the building, with the archway where the water flows through, and the tree on the left, balances the photo. The perfect reflection in the water gives the photo a sense of tranquillity.

Voet- en fietsbrug in Lanklaar

Highly stylised photograph that emphasises the sleek body of the bridge. For me, there is not enough space above the top of the white bridge pier. The photograph captures the vastness of the structure, but where is the second pier? Where does this beautiful bridge lead to? A different view of the bridge's structure.

Blue sky, the water of the canal, all the ingredients for a walk, as evidenced by the presence of pedestrians on the bridge deck! The composition is perfect, the canal can be seen in its full width. The photographer has captured the effect of the cables that hold this structure in place, the curved shape of the pylon seems to resist the force of the wind. The layout of this print is absolutely correct, a feast for the eyes.

The reflection of the bridge and the landscape behind it in the water form three parallel lines together with the bridge. I would leave out the piece of tree on the right, or crop it out of the photo a little more.

Remembrance Day 2024 in Ieper

A delightful composition with a fascinating view of the Ypres market halls. The eye is drawn first to the colours of the peace banner, then to the crowd that has gathered, and then, via the front façade, to the unique corner building of the market halls, which is shown in its entirety. The colourful strip happily brightens up the grey and sombre character of the buildings and the crowd.

A majestic photograph of the market halls of Ypres, taken on a day of remembrance, given the large number of participants in this day for peace. The building is central, the sky is brightly lit. Beautiful perspective and lines bring the building into perfect focus. A fitting blue and white cloudy sky gives the building an extra accent. I would leave out the piece of tree on the left.

The combination of the two different but both centuries-old architectural styles of the Cloth Hall on the left and the buildings with stepped gables on the right form a beautiful combination with the very colourful zebra crossing in the foreground. The building is beautifully captured.

Tour and Taxis in Brussels

The strength of the emptiness with the stunning perspective of the diagonals and a balanced distribution of warm earth tones. The green lift truck belonging to the window cleaners adds a cheerful note.

Tour & Taxi, a customs office that has been restored and opened to the public. We are here in one of the large unloading areas for products from the colonies that were brought in via the port of Antwerp. The photo is a tribute to the restoration of this industrial space and to the craftsmanship with which all the glass roofs and platforms have been given a new lease of life.

The beautiful symmetry of the lines converging at the back gives the photo a sense of depth. A wonderful interplay of lines. The depth of field in the photo adds to the feeling of an abandoned place. The photographic challenge was to control the perspective lines and use a wide-angle lens, which was done excellently. An enormous space that is almost too small on busy days!

The Atomium in Brussels

Finally, the Atomium is not central or zoomed in. Good composition thanks to its decentralised placement. The photo could have been boring, but it draws its strength from the swaying water feature with its reflection and the soft late afternoon light. Clever of the photographer to take the photo from Mini-Europe. In this case, the Atomium is the favourite toy of a miniature photographer. The composition is good! The object blends into its surroundings. That makes it difficult to criticise: should we compare the details or judge the whole? The trompe-l'oeil effect is successful, so we are very pleased with the result.

The balance between the shadowed area at the bottom and the sunlit buildings creates a beautiful contrast as a backdrop to the imposing Atomium, especially with the reflection in the water as an additional element.

Beautiful square framing reminiscent of the structure of an iron crystal. It is a pity that the evening light is so strong that the buildings in the background are overexposed. The shadows at the bottom make the moment grand. The reflection in the water adds an extra dimension. I would remove the black concrete strip at the bottom right.

Statistics

Year	Images	Usage	Percentage	Participants
2018	4348	1163	27%	141
2019	1056	321	30%	19
2020	840	329	39%	17
2021	2076	447	21%	37
2022	1248	234	19%	28
2023	1381	251	18%	63
2024	2382	450	19%	61
2025	1211	204	17%	63

Rounds	Criterium	Participants	Images	Percentage	Jurors per image	Images per juror
Contest	Physical quality	63	1211	100%
1st round	yes/no	63	1132	93%	7	880
2nd round	score 1-5	52	384	32%	9	384
3rd round	drag and drop	22	86	7%	9	86
Winners	best image	10	10	1%

Members of the jury