One of the oldest and certainly the most famous microstate in the world was born back in 1967. And you know what's most interesting? You, too, can become a citizen of Sealand, a freedom-loving principality off the coast of Great Britain.
platform for life
During the Second World War, Great Britain did everything possible to strengthen the coast. As part of this program, several platforms were built on the approaches. The Roughs Tower site housed an impressive garrison of 200 men and several anti-aircraft guns. But in the hustle and bustle, the British built the same Roughs Tower outside their territorial waters, which served as an impetus for the further development of the situation.
Amusement park
Long after the war, in 1966, former warriors Paddy Roy Bates and Ronan O'Reilly looked after an abandoned platform to create an amusement park. The partners' plans were thwarted by a quarrel: Bates drove Ronan off the platform and defended it for some time.
Pirate State
The winner did not build any amusement park. Instead, it was planned to place the pirate station Britain's Better Music Station here, but things did not go beyond plans. After living on the platform for several months, Roy suddenly announced the creation of a sovereign state. On September 2, 1967, the whole world learned with amazement about the emergence of a new principality - Roy called it Sealand.
Problems with the authorities
Of course, the British authorities were not going to stand aside and give their property to some rogue. In early 1968, two military boats approached the platform and were met with gunfire. Bloodshed was avoided: England decided to simply sue Bates, because formally he remained a British subject.
Tricks of Lawyers
The logical way out of this situation would be for the UK to expand its territorial waters. On September 30, 1987, this was officially announced: now Sealand fell under the jurisdiction of the country. However, the smart prince reacted to the new threat immediately - he also announced the expansion of the territory of the principality, to which the British snobs decided not to respond. And it was a big mistake: in fact, for the rest of the world, the UK, as it were, recognized the right of Bates to sovereign control of its platform.
Document scam
For international crime, the existence of Sealand has become a real gift. In 1997, Interpol came across a syndicate selling fake Sealand documents. Diplomatic passports, driver's licenses, ordinary civil documents - in Europe, with such papers, they managed to buy weapons, open bank accounts and arrange whole scams. The operation to block the fake documents took several years and cost Interpol about $10 million.
Relentless element
For a long time, Sealand flourished. But on June 23, 2006, the history of this strange state almost came to an end. A sudden fire destroyed almost all the buildings on the platform, and it took the Sealanders six months to restore the infrastructure.
Monarchy
The Principality is governed as a constitutional monarchy. The head until recently was Prince Roy I Bates, and now he has been replaced by the heir, Michael I Bates. There is a full-fledged constitution, adopted on September 25, 1975. The control of life is carried out by three ministries: the interior, foreign affairs and telecommunications and technology.
Savor
No need to think that Sealand is just one of the invented states. It has everything you need for a normal life: the country produces its own stamps, there is the Sealand Anglican Church and even its own football team. The latter, however, has not yet been recognized by any federation.
General Admiral Prince President
After Roy's death, his only son, Michael Bay, became his heir. True, the politician did not move to the platform and prefers to spend time in the UK. In 2012, he was given the hereditary title of Admiral General of Sealand, Prince Michael I Bates.
Blog of architects Igor and Marina Popovskikh
This post to some extent continues the thought that flashed in the "Houses of the Doomed". The only difference is that we will talk about that section of the street. Bolshevik, where there are two architectural monuments of regional significance. Under the cut are photos of the monuments themselves, a couple of neighboring houses, as well as a little about plans for this territory.
The April issue of the magazine "All about new buildings" (No. 4, 2011) contains an article "Monuments of history and architecture" (pp. 58-61). At the very end of the article, you can find a paragraph reporting on the discussion of the possibility of creating an open-air museum "City Start", dedicated to the builders of the railway bridge across the Ob, who became the founders of the city. As three objects on the basis of which it is possible to create such a complex, they consider the Monument to the Bridge, which is part of the span of the first bridge across the Ob, ..
Photo from 07/01/2010
House of the Office of the Administration of the Tomsk Estate of the Altai District of the Department of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty ...
Photo from 07/01/2010
Photo from 07/01/2010
And the office of engineer G. M. Budagov. Considering that the last building is located across a fairly busy road in terms of vehicles, the question arises: "How will these points be connected?". After all, the construction of a road interchange nearby will make it even more difficult for pedestrians, visitors to the future museum complex, to overcome the roadway. But, since so far only the possibility of creation is being discussed, it is premature to talk about everything.
But a certain interest is the private sector, located along the streets of Bolshevik and Inskaya. On the st. Bolshevik are two monuments of architecture, which are below. On the neighboring Inskaya Street, there is another architectural monument - the Terentievs' estate (the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries, unfortunately, there are no photographs), a historical monument (Zakamensky District Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, 1908) ...
And a couple of houses, richly decorated with carvings.
Photo from 15.08.2008
Thus, the place is certainly historical and with a certain creative approach, something interesting can be created from it. However, the question arises: will the place itself survive?
The office of G. M. Budagov is supposed to be restored and a memorial exposition to the founders of the city be created there, but it is possible that soon there will be nothing to restore, since the building is in disrepair and disappears right before our eyes.
The office was built at the end of the 19th century by engineer Grigory Moiseevich Budagov. Rectangular in plan, a one-story log house on a brick plastered plinth is sheathed with horizontal and vertical profiled boards.
Rectangular vertical windows are framed with platbands with carved cornices above the windowsills. Vertical boards are decorated with overlaid twisted semi-columns of lathe work and a "capital" formed by the plane of the board with an overlaid quatrefoil. The window sill has a complex outline. Currently, most of the decor has been lost, some of the windows have no architraves, none of the remaining architraves no longer have twisted semi-columns.
The decor of the dormer window is completely lost.
It is possible that soon the office of G. M. Budagov will repeat the history of the architectural monument at st. Bolshevistskaya, 29. A two-story mixed house was built in 1926. In 2007-2008 the wooden top was completely dismantled and rebuilt.
We can say that only the stone bottom has been preserved, everything else is a remake.
The house is richly decorated with carvings that look good from afar.
However, close up (which, perhaps, is not visible in the photographs), some kind of falsity is felt in the correct outlines of the patterns.
The fact is that the carving was not done by hand, as a century ago, but on special machines. Therefore, in this thread, everything is too correct and symmetrical, so it looks dry and lifeless.
The tongs of the house are decorated with rosettes - "suns".
Fragment of the facade on the street. Makovsky:
Window opening on the first floor:
Architraves on the windows of the second floor:
Window board decor:
Window board:
This architectural monument is well complemented by two more old houses located in the next block. It is not known whether we will approach the development of the territory considered in this post, as in Irkutsk, where, during the reconstruction of a quarter with 6 monuments, it was proposed to preserve in one way or another a few dozen more houses that make up a single whole with the monuments. So at home, which is in the photo below, I refer to the "doomed houses" and photograph for memory. Here they are - the neighbors of the building on the street. Bolshevik, 29.
Bolshevik, 33.
st. Bolshevik, 35
Website materials used: http://d-popovskiy.livejournal.com/14837.html
In the vastness of our planet there are many interesting things and phenomena. One of these is the so-called virtual state, an entity that declares its statehood, but is not one. Most often, such territories are not taken seriously by countries and world states. Among them you can find the most diverse and interesting: the Kingdom of Northern Sudan is a land on the border of Egypt and Sudan, which both abandoned, but a resident of the American city of Abingdon claimed his rights to it, Christiania - located in the Copenhagen region, where its inhabitants can freely use " substances”, or the most famous Principality of Sealand, which will be discussed further.
So, the principality of Sealand is a state formed in 1967 by a retired British major, Paddy Roy Bates. Today, some principality is considered as an unrecognized state, and some as a virtual one, but it claims sovereignty over the maritime territory. Sealand is an offshore platform in the North Sea off the coast of Great Britain. After settling on the platform, Major Bates proclaimed himself a prince and his family the ruling dynasty. A few years later, the first constitution, flag and coat of arms appeared here.
Sealand as a platform originated during the Second World War, when the British Navy built a series of offshore platforms off the coast, and was called Roughs Tower. Anti-aircraft guns and a garrison were located here. After the end of the war, most of the forts were destroyed, but the Roughs Tower remained intact. So the platform remained abandoned until 1966, when retired Major Paddy Roy Bates and friend Ronan O'Reilly chose the platform to build an amusement park. After a fight with a friend, Bates reclaimed the platform to make a pirate radio station. But on September 2, 1967, he proclaimed himself Prince Roy I and announced the creation of the Principality of Sealand.
A year later, the British authorities tried to occupy Sealand, but it did not come to hostilities and a lawsuit was launched against Bates. Later, the court recognized that the case was outside British jurisdiction and the case was closed. Despite the tiny size of the Principality of Sealand, there was even an attempted coup d'etat. In 1978, during the absence of the prince, the prime minister kidnapped and took the prince to the Netherlands. With the support of the people, the prince returned the prince and brought the prime minister and the count concurrently to trial.
Until recently, Sealand had his own passports, but soon, due to an international incident, he decided to give them up. In the late 1990s, a syndicate selling false passports, in particular Sealand ones, came to the attention of Interpol. At the same time, about 150,000 fake passports, driver's licenses and university degrees were sold to citizens of China, Spain, Great Britain, France, Slovenia, Romania and Russia. After that, Sealand was forced to give up passports.
If recognized, the Principality of Sealand will become the smallest country in Europe and the world, especially since there is a reason for this. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands entered into negotiations with the principality, and the Belgian postal service recognized Sealand stamps for some time. In addition, Sealand has its own stamps and currency, the Sealand dollar, mints its own coins, and also provided space for servers. Surprisingly, it has its own Sealand Anglican Church, developed mini-golf and has its own football team, which is registered in the NF-Board federation, which accepts those who are not included in FIFA.
: 51°53′24″ s. sh. 1°27′20″ in. d. / 51.89° N sh. 1.455556° in. d.(G)(O) 51.89 , 1.455556
Total
% water surface
0.00055 km²
100%
Grade ()
census()
Density
32 people
5 people
9090 (according to census) person/km²
Roy did not build an amusement park, but chose a platform to base his pirate radio station, Britain's Better Music Station, but this radio station never broadcast from the platform. On September 2, 1967, he announced the creation of a sovereign state and proclaimed himself Prince Roy I. This day is celebrated as the main public holiday.
Conflict with Great Britain
Expansion of territorial waters
Territorial waters claimed by Sealand
Fire on Sealand
Sealand after the fire
On June 23, 2006, the state of Sealand suffered the worst natural disaster in its history. A fire broke out on the platform, the cause of which is indicated by a short circuit. The fire destroyed almost all the buildings. As a result of the fire, one victim was taken by a British BBC rescue helicopter to a hospital in the UK. The state was restored quickly enough: already by November of the same year.
Selling Sealand
Sealand Tourism
The Government of Sealand on its official website announced the start of tourist trips from the summer of 2012. As of July 19, a government spokesman says in private correspondence that "the tourism program is in the process of being finalized."
Michael (Michael) I Bates
Since 1999, Michael I Bates (son of Paddy Roy Bates; born 1952) Sealand politician living in the UK has become Prince Regent of Sealand. Since 2012 inherited the title: "Admiral General of Sealand Prince Michael I Bates»
Legal status
Sealand's position compares favorably with that of other virtual states. The Principality has a physical territory and has some legal grounds for international recognition. The requirement of independence is based on three arguments. The most fundamental of these is the fact that Sealand was established in neutral waters prior to the entry into force of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which prohibited the construction of artificial structures on the high seas, and prior to the expansion of the UK's sovereign maritime zone from 3 to 12 nautical miles in 1987 year. Based on the fact that the Roughs Tower platform, on which Sealand is located, was abandoned and struck off the lists of the British Admiralty, its occupation is considered as colonization. The settlers who settled on it believe that they had every right to establish a state and establish a form of government at their discretion. According to international norms, the size of the state cannot be an obstacle to recognition. For example, the recognized British possession of Pitcairn Island has only about 60 people.
The second important argument is the decision of the British court in 1968 on the lack of UK jurisdiction over Sealand. No other country has also claimed Sealand.
Thirdly, there are several facts of de facto recognition of Sealand. The Montevideo Convention states that states have the right to exist and defend themselves, regardless of official recognition. In modern international practice, tacit (non-diplomatic) recognition is a fairly common phenomenon. It arises when a regime does not have sufficient legitimacy, but exercises actual power on its territory. For example, many states do not recognize the Republic of China diplomatically, but treat it de facto as a sovereign country. With regard to Sealand, there are four such testimonies:
- Great Britain does not pay a pension to Prince Roy for the period when he was in Sealand.
- The UK courts refused to hear the 1968 and 1990 Sealand claims.
- The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Germany entered into negotiations with the government of Sealand.
- The Belgian postal service accepted Sealand stamps for some time.
Theoretically, Sealand's position is very convincing. If recognized, the principality would become the smallest country in the world and the 51st state in Europe. However, according to the founding theory, more common in modern international law, a state can exist only insofar as it is recognized by other states. Therefore, Sealand cannot be accepted into any international organization, cannot have its own postal address, domain name . None of the countries established diplomatic relations with him.
Sealand is trying to get independence recognized by some major state, but has not tried to get independence through the UN.
coins
Coins of Sealand, from left to right: ½ dollar, silver dollar and ¼ dollar
| Dignity | Material | Year of issue |
|---|---|---|
| ¼ dollar | bronze | |
| ¼ dollar | silver | |
| ½ dollar | cupro-nickel alloy | |
| ½ dollar | silver | |
| 1 dollar | bronze | |
| 1 dollar | silver | |
| $2½ | bronze | |
| 10 dollars | silver | |
| 10 dollars | silver | |
| $30 | silver | |
| 100 dollars | gold |
The coins of the 1970s have a portrait of one of the monarchs on the obverse, and the coat of arms of Sealand on the reverse. (There is no coat of arms on the coins of 1972 yet, a sailboat on the waves is depicted). On the obverse of the coins of the 1990s there is an image of a dolphin.
Also known are 20 dollars with the image of Princess Joanna (silver, 1975, the number of copies is unknown). 10 dollars of 1977 were issued in two types: 2000 copies, with the image of Prince Roy and 2000 copies with the image of Princess Joanna.
"Government in Exile" in 1991 issued a silver one hundred dollars with a portrait of Prime Minister Johannes Seiger.
Reading the article will take: 5 minutes.The initial idea was to capture a no-man's sea platform and organize some kind of entertainment center on it, like an amusement park. The adventure was interesting, if financially expensive, but two bosom buddies Paddy Roy Bates and Ronan O'Reilly decided to take a chance and secure a source of permanent income. Shortly after the landing, made in 1966, the friends disagreed and Bates sent O'Reilly "in the cold", declaring that from now on the platform belongs only to him. However, the retired major of the British Armed Forces did not have money for a complete re-equipment of the platform, and he decided on a breathtaking step - he declared the territory of the platform, equal to 1,300 square meters, the Principality of Sealand, and himself - the monarch and Prince Roy I. Do you think he is a potential patient of a psychiatric hospital? Everything is much more complicated...
The territory of the Principality of Sealand in its "youth" served in the army and was called "Fort Maunsell" - the offshore platform was created and installed by order of the British Navy in 1942. There were several dozen similar platforms along the coastline of England, each with a detachment of two hundred soldiers serving the anti-aircraft gun complex. With their help, Churchill and the British Admiralty hoped to seriously thin out the ranks of German bombers in the event of an air strike from Nazi Germany, to track the laying of minefields by enemy minelayers - gun and anti-aircraft platforms were something like the first line of defense of Great Britain.
The Second World War ended in victory for the Allies and the line of defense from offshore platforms was dismantled, but Fort Maunsell remained in its place - guns and other army equipment were removed from it, but they had no right to remove it (Nock John Fort remained, it is in the image below ). The fact is that under international law, the maritime territory along the perimeter of the British Isles, which is owned by Great Britain, is limited to three nautical miles from the coastline. All other anti-aircraft gun platforms were placed within it, but Fort Maunsell was set the farthest - six nautical miles from the coast, exactly opposite the mouth of the River Thames. Those. England had no right to it and therefore could not dismantle it - the platform became a no-man's land, located in neutral waters.
Another post-war platform and fellow Sealand - Knock John Fort
In the media of the middle of the last century, a no-man's offshore platform was nicknamed the "Hooligan Tower" or "Roughs Tower" - the platform exists, but it does not have an owner. And in 1966, this situation was changed by the British Bates and O'Reilly, they had reasons for that - both were in conflict with the law of Great Britain and were considered radio pirates for regularly airing illegal radio stations "Radio Essex" and "Radio Caroline" (lack of license, non-payment taxes, copyright infringement, etc.). Let's go back to the former Major Roy Bates, who became the sole owner of the Roughs Tower - the first thing he did was to start his Radio Essex again, enjoying the freedom from the jurisdiction of England. But the euphoria did not last long - the construction of the platform was in a deplorable state and required constant repairs, and Bates, who, moreover, England refused to pay a pension, had no money for this ... But he was found - after lengthy negotiations with lawyers and lawyers, a retired warrior declared himself prince and monarch of the Principality of Sealand, whose territory was the sea platform and the three-mile sea zone around it.
Two military conflicts immediately arose in the young principality - a former friend of O'Reilly tried to knock out a fellow radio pirate and appropriate the platform for himself, the British Navy made a similar attempt, also trying to return the platform to its jurisdiction and drive out the impudent invader, along with family and friends whom Bates by that time settled in the former army barracks of Sealand. We must pay tribute to the outstanding courage and determination of the retired major, his family and friends - both attacks were repulsed! In the first case, the population of the platform fought off the attackers with the help of rifles, machine guns and flamethrowers (!), In the second case, the boats of the coast guard of England turned to the shore as soon as rifle bullets whistled over their heads (Navy captains can be understood - getting injured just like that and fighting they didn’t want to deal with civilians, not the case).
Passport, coins and postage stamps of the Principality of Sealand
Now about the legal status of the Principality of Sealand. Having met armed resistance from the population of Sealand, representatives of the British Navy appealed to the Essex court with a demand to release the platform illegally occupied by an English citizen. But the Essex judge made the opposite decision - in early September 1968, he ruled that the Sealand offshore platform was outside the jurisdiction of the UK, i.e. The laws of a country have no power over its people. This was the first success of the young Principality, which Prince Roy I Bates immediately decided to consolidate by issuing his own postage stamps in 1969 (and demanding that the Universal Postal Union in Brussels accept the Principality of Sealand), starting to mint his own coin in 1972, and in 1975 - creating the Constitution of the Sealand Monarchy, its coat of arms, flag and anthem.
Those. According to the Montevideo International Convention, adopted in 1933 at the 7th Pan-American Conference, the principality of Sealand has all the features of an independent state, namely: it has its own territory, there is a permanent population, it has its own government and the principality is able (and has repeatedly tried!) to enter into diplomatic relations with other states.
So, since 1967 - for 45 years already - the Principality of Sealand has existed in good health, and the "August" family of a retired British major, who exchanged his homeland for a princely title, has accumulated a good fortune. I had a reasonable question - how much income can a principality located on the high seas and on an area the size of a football field bring? The first source of income was the pirated Radio Essex, then Roy I and his family switched to all sorts of promotional products - cups, T-shirts, posters, etc. Trade was greatly facilitated by the attempted coup d'état in Sealand in 1978, which brought incredible popularity to the microscopic principality and its population in the European media.
Crown Prince of Sealand Michael Bates
As the monarch of a sovereign state with all the necessary regalia, Roy I Bates, his wife, Princess Joan I Bates, the heir to the princely throne, Prince Regent Michael I and daughter Penelope are engaged in trading titles and other attributes of the Principality - to purchase a title and related documentation for 316 $ can anyone on the official website of the Principality of Sealand sealandgov.org. And the former putschist and Prime Minister of Sealand, Count Alexander Gottfried Achenbach, a German citizen, declared himself a “government in exile” and actively traded in fake passports of the principality, selling about 150,000 documents at $ 1,000 each (at the request of Interpol, Prince Roy I canceled the action all Sealand passports a few years ago). From 2000 to 2008, the servers of the hosting company HavenCo were located on the platform of the principality, which made a bet on an offshore zone and paid a tidy sum for rent.
Certificate of Title of the Principality of Sealand
Since 2007, the Principality on an offshore platform has been sold for only 750 million euros, and now only one of the 27 citizens of Sealand is permanently located on its territory. The elderly prince himself and his wife moved on land to England ten years ago - not the age to live on a platform in the middle of the sea.
