Republic of Lomar

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Republic of Lomar
Flag	Seal
Motto: Empowering our citizens and partner states through knowledge, technology and development Musical Anthem: ?, by ?
Location:	1155 Connecticut Avenue NW 300, Washington DC 20036, USA
Co-ordinates:	38°53′42.4″N 77°02′12.0″W
Area:	None - non-territorial entity
Capital:	None
Membership:	< 20,000 (March 2001)
Date of foundation:	? 1997
Leadership:	Chancellor Laurence (Laurent) Alain Cleenewerk
Organisational structure:	Republic
Language:	English and French
Currency:	Lomar Currency Unit / Kurant

The Republic of Lomar was a micronation established in 1997 by US academic and Christian social activist Laurence (Laurent) Cleenewerk (born 1969, Montpellier, France). Initially conceived as a "virtual state", Lomar later self-identified as a "non-territorial supranational state" and as an NGO; after being registered as a charitable organisation in France and the United States in the early 2000s under the name Regency of Lomar Foundation, it focused on humanitarian and refugee advocacy.

One of the group's projects involved an attempted Lomar-branded revival of the Nansen Passport - a League of Nations identity card that was issued in the period between 1921 and 1942 to hundreds of thousands of stateless refugees. However, while there is photographic evidence that Lomar passports were manufactured, few are believed to have been issued. Other artefacts produced by Lomar include a series of cinderella postage stamps released in 2000, and a coin minted in 2006.

Cleenewerk ceased to be associated with Lomar in 2003, and was suceeded by the Abbot General of St Severin's Abbey, in Kaufbeuren, Germany - Klaus Schlapps. St Severins is associated with the Old Catholic Church, a sect of mostly Dutch and German origins whose members split with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1870s over the doctrine of Papal Infallability.

Lomar was named for a fictional land in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, first mentioned in his short story Polaris (1918). An early version of the Lomar website identified the device in the hoist of Lomar's flag as the Pole Star. As at September 2011 the operational status of Lomar is uncertain as there is no public record of its activities since the mid 2000s, and its public website has been reverted to a version dating to 2001.

References

[1]

External links

• Republic of Lomar website.
• Republic of Lomar website (archived 01/02/2001).
• Laurent Cleenewerck biographical data.
• Laurent Cleenewerck personal web page.
• Dom Klaus Schlapps biographical data.
• text of deleted Wikipedia article

Gallery

Laurent Cleenewerck, founding Chancellor of Lomar.	Klaus Schlapps, Cleenewerck's successor.	Lomar passports were to be issued to refugees and other displaced persons.	1 Kurant coin minted by Lomar in 2006.
Stamp minisheet issued by Lomar in 2000.