Wikimedia CEE Hub/Microgrants/Applications 2025/MG-05

statusfunded

Photographing Silk Road monuments in In Azerbaijan

The proposed project is to immortalize and upload photos of historical monuments - bridges, caravansaries, churches, and fortresses - built on the section of the historical Great Silk Road that passed through Azerbaijan, and to upload them to Commons.

targetWikipedia, Commons, WikiSource, WikiVoyage

proposed start date1 June

proposed end date1 August

budget (EUR)700 EUR

grant typeGroup of individuals

applicant• Xayala Mammadli

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Basic information

You are applying as

Group of individuals

Your name(s)/Organisation name

Khayala Mammadli, Ravshan Mammadli

Your username(s)

Xayala Mammadli, En Merker

What is your role in the movement?

Editor

If you are a part of a WM community, please state its name here

Azerbaijani Wikimedians User Group

Have you applied for any Wikimedia Foundation grant or any other grant before?

No

Name of your proposed microgrant project

Photographing Silk Road monuments in In Azerbaijan

Proposed start date of the project

2 June 2025

Proposed end date of the project

1 August 2025

In which CEE country/ies will the project activities be implemented?

Azerbaijan

Project information

What is the main goal of your project?

The proposed project is to immortalize and upload photos of historical monuments - bridges, caravansaries, churches, and fortresses - built on the section of the historical Great Silk Road that passed through Azerbaijan, and to upload them to Commons.
It should be noted that part of the historical Great Silk Road, the part leading to the Black Sea ports, passed through the territory of Azerbaijan. Therefore, bridges were built over rivers in the areas where the trade route passed, caravanserais were built in cities and residential areas, and fortresses were built to protect trade caravans from robberies. The main goal of the project is to immortalise this historical heritage through photographs. Because currently, due to neglect, many of these monuments are about to collapse and be destroyed. The main goal is to take photos of these monuments, which are about to be destroyed, in their current state and upload them to Commons.

Describe which activities you plan to implement

Within the framework of the project, we plan to organise a trip to the areas where the Silk Road passed in Azerbaijan and take photos of the monuments. Most of these monuments have been overlooked because they are located far from modern settlements and communications. There are several caravanserais on the Absheron Peninsula that are already falling apart and are about to be destroyed. We intend to take photos of these caravanserais in their current state and upload them to Commons. The main goal is also to take photos of religious monuments in the Absheron and Shirvan regions (historical regions of Azerbaijan) - Kilvar Church, Holy Martyr Stepannos Monastery, Galagah Church, Ateshgah of Baku, and other monuments that are about to collapse.

Describe your team

The project will be implemented by the Wikipedia club located at the Central Scientific Library of Azerbaijan. This Wikiclub includes several active Wikipedia contributors and volunteers. The main organizational work and coordination of the team will be carried out by members of the Azerbaijan Wikipedia Volunteers Community, Xayala Mammadli and En Merker.

For which Wikimedia projects is the project relevant? For which communities is the project relevant? What is your target group?

The project we are presenting is relevant for projects such as Wikipedia itself, Commons, WikiSource, Wikitravel. So, the people working on this project can get injured at any time from both the photos we upload and the information we enter. Our main goal is to make the crumbling heritage accessible to every Wikipedia user who is interested in it through photos.
Within the framework of the project, we will work on Wikipedia, Commons, WikiSource, Wikitravel projects. We will include information about historical monuments in Wikipedia, upload photos to Commons, add books about them to WikiSource, and show tourist and travel routes to these objects in Wikitravel.
All these things will be reflected in the overall results of the Project. The result of the project is the photography of neglected monuments on the verge of collapse and destruction in their current state. We see the main result of the project as the photographic representation of the current state of neglected historical Christian monuments along the Silk Road.

Do you have any metrics for the proposed grant proposal? If yes, please fill in the number of participants, editors, organisers and content contributions (Wikipedia articles, Wikimedia Commons images, Wikidata items, etc.)

The project will involve two main Wikipedia users, Xayala Mammadli and En Merker, as organizers and coordinators. In addition, two more people will be included in the team as volunteers. These are volunteers who are new to Wikipedia. We have several series of articles on Wikipedia related to this project.

Financial information

What is the amount that you are requesting for this grant proposal?

700 EUR

Please provide the budget of your grant proposal

Expense type	Expense details	Number of Units	Unit Price	Expense Total
Transport	Transportation costs	1	€350.00	€350.00
Food and beverages	Lunch and dinner expenses	1	€200.00	€200.00
Renting	Camera	1	€100.00	€100.00
Unexpected expenses	Miscellaneous costs	1	€50.00	€50.00
TOTAL				€700.00

Other

Any additional comments or remarks about your project

We hope that the results of the project we present will be of interest to Wikipedia users and volunteers. Historical monuments that have been overlooked will be immortalised on Wikipedia and its projects through us.