Though having driven past the underpass near the Gold Finch and the Lamp Post near Old Port gate several times, one generally fails to realise that these are among heritage monuments of the city.
A team of 16 Wikipedia contributors from the city recently took up the task of photographing these two and and 43 other heritage places in the city. Now those photographs are being uploaded to Wikipedia Commons. As many as 16 avid photographers participated in the Wiki Loves Monuments heritage walk event held on September 19.
Krishna Mohan, a Moodbidri-based doctor and a regular Wikipedia contributor, said there were hardly anything on the city’s heritage on the Wikipedia. This prompted Harriet Vidyasagar, the Wikipedia coordinator, to hold Wiki Loves Monuments contest for capturing photographs of heritage places in Mangaluru. But the catch here was that the monuments to be featured in the contest should be recognised by Archaeological Survey of India. With city having only three ASI recognised sites - Mangaladevi Temple, Stamba near Jain Basadi in Bappanadu and Sultan Battery - and these being already featured in Wikipedia there was less scope for a contest.
Dr. Mohan said Ms. Vidyasagar proposed holding a heritage walk for featuring other heritage monuments in the city in the Wikimedia Commons free media repository. Dr. Mohan said he and a few volunteers went to the office of the Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner and made a list of the 45 monuments in the city.
Dr. Mohan, an avid nature photographer and 15 other photographer volunteers assembled at the City Central Library at 9 a.m. on September 18 and began the walk. It started from St. Aloysius Chapel followed by St. Aloysius College, Idgah Masjid on Light House hill, underpass near Gold Finch hotel and St. Sebastian Church near Bendoorwell.
They managed to cover most of the historical places on September 18 and the remaining few in the subsequent days. “We are now uploading photographs to Wikipedia Commons,” Dr. Mohan said. “We will shortly start uploading authentic information about these historical places,” he said.