TARGET 160120
THE MIGHTY NATION OF LADONIA
Have you ever heard of the Nation of Ladonia? What? Don't you recognize the central tower of its capital, Nimis, in the picture above? No? It's all real. Well, as real as any nation, I guess. Any nation is real because someone went there, built it up, made laws, made city plans, established leadership for it and then just declared it to be a nation. There is nothing that says it has to be a certain size or have a large population or anything like that. Come to think of it, each person on earth could do the same with their house if they wanted to.
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So, in the far southwest corner of Sweden, in a nature preserve a few kilometers northwest of the town of Arild, on a rocky beach reachable only via boat or a strenuous 30- to 45-minute hike, is the nation of Ladonia.
It all came about when artist Lars Vilks built an artistic structure (pictured above), nine stories tall, out of 70 tons of driftwood and nails in that remote location as a means of expressing the present state of freedom in the world. He called the structure "Nimis" (Latin for "too much")
Nimis
He then built "Arx" (Latin for "fortress"), a stone and concrete sculpture resembling a melting sand castle.
Arx
Nimis, the first of the two sculptures was begun in 1980 and went unnoticed by Swedish authorities until 1982, when they declared it would have to be destroyed.
The deed to the land
As a means of outmaneuvering the Swedish authorities, even while Nimis was scheduled for destruction, Lars sold it to the artist Cristo. The legal document of the sale is a piece of driftwood, once a piece of the artwork itself, now on display at the Swedish Museum of Sketches. The actual sale of the property, even though it was on a national nature preserve, set the wheels in motion to get Swedish laws involved. Any time you get the government involved, there are bound to be delays, problems, lots of paperwork and usually lots of confusion. It worked. While the legal status of the land and sculpture was in debate, it could not be destroyed.
Then, just to complicate legal matters further, Vilks declared the area an independent nation. The nation of Ladonia, occupying essentially only the area around the sculptures, was declared in 1996.
Ladonia began having its share of "international incidents", as Sweden continued trying to shut it down and destroy its capital city. Such "international incidents" have been recorded, even further establishing its status as an independent nation.
Then, war was declared on Ladonia by a satirical group which was following this process. They called themselves the "Armed Coalition Forces of the Internets." A nation at war makes the history books, even if only the tiniest of footnotes, thus furthering Ladonia's status.
Ladonia also claimed a "population" of over 15000, though no one resided on the site as "all of its citizens are nomads." That is, they are all free to live wherever they want and do whatever they want, but their very freedom grants them citizenship. If you want to become a citizen of Ladonia, you are free to do so.
Unfortunately, the original paperwork Vilks filed was not entirely clear in the online application form, and when it got published on the internet, some 3000 Pakistanis, confused by the micro-nation's website, applied for immigrant status. They were granted it, as anyone who applies is given citizenship. However, as the Pakistanis began asking about Ladonia's embassy and the details of how to get there, it became clear that actually moving to Ladonia was not a possibility. Ladonia suddenly had a governmental problem of 3000 irate citizens to deal with. Clearly, a democratic government was problematic, so Ladonia became a Royalty.
And the Royal Nation of Ladonia is still there, these days no longer at war with Sweden, as the larger country has basically thrown up its hands and decided to just ignore the smaller nation's existence.
The suburbs
And Ladonia has actually continued to grow. It has now laid claim to a full square kilometer of the coastland it is on (Note the size of the stones that make farming somewhat difficult.) It now has its own royal family, ambassadors and statesmen. (see the links below).
Satistical and other information about ladonia:
The National Anthem of Ladonia is the sound of throwing a stone into water.
The Ladonian language consists of two words: "waaaall" and "ÿp".
The currency is Örtug, 1 Örtug is around 10 Swedish Krona or 1 Euro.
Ladonia has its own timezone (LST: Ladonia Standard Time) which is UTC/GMT +0:57 (Three minutes slower than neighboring Sweden)
The Constitution of Ladonia explicitly excludes men from the throne. There has not been, nor will ever be, a King of Ladonia. Only Queens. The monarch is Her Majesty, The Queen Carolyn, living in the USA.
Election for president takes place every third year. The current President is Christopher Matheoss, living in France.
In 2014, at the last census, Ladonia had more than 17000 registered citizens.
With the rights comes responsibility.
And there is also a tarif for entering the Royal Nation of Ladonia, but it isn't paid in money. It's paid in service, as you work to continue building the great capital city of Nimis.
While this may all seem too humorous to be used as a Target of the Week, it is a real place, citizened by real people all around the world, and with a real history, describable land, actions and objects. In fact, the land and objects on it will test your ability to let your subconscious tell you things that don't at first make sense to your conscious mind. That's one of the reasons we practice.
Aside from that, the fact is that there are many "micro-nations" around the globe, created by people who have just decided that they wanted no part of their government and have declared themselves and their tiny plot of land as independent. Ladonia is just one of them - a very successful one, and there are 17000 of its citizens around the world who support its right to exist.
If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, more information, pictures and videos can be found at the following web sites:
Ladonia's official website
Ladonia's Facebook page
Queen Carolyn's Twitter page
The Ladonia Herald - Ladonia's official on-line newspaper
Atlas Obscura web site
Wikipedia
When On Earth website
Atlas Slate web site
Photo gallery of Ladonia