LIZBEKISTAN:
lizbekistan.com

Until Sept. 9, 1999, Lizbekistan was one of the most popular micronations. That is when its creator, an Australian artist named Liz Stirling, blew up the site.
She began work on Lizbekistan in 1996 as part of a larger project on citizenship and printed stamps and passports for would-be Lizbeks. Lizbekistan even had its own currency, the nipple. In its heyday, the imaginary nation had four newspapers, including The Lizbek Sentinel, which Ms. Stirling described as ''the independent official organ,'' and The Dependent, jokingly known as ''the voice of authority.'' Lizbekistan eventually acquired several thousand citizens before being consigned to oblivion last year. Refugees of Lizbekistan can now frequent two related sites, www.lizbekdiaspora.com and www.lizvegas.com.
SHE GIVETH, AND TAKETH AWAY -- Liz Stirling created Lizbekistan, a micronation that offered passports to its several thousand citizens. Then she blew it up.
(Ludovic Careme for The New York Times)