EARTH CENTRE NEMOLAND POLAND

free space to connect people and earth

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Nemoland Poland - Kopaniec-Międzylesie (Ramberg) 5 - 58-512 Stara Kamienica - email -  Map  Map region
Navigation: Google Maps type "Nemoland Polen”  - GPS location: 50° 53.857', 15° 31.857. Altitude 520m

- Pictures  Fotoalbum Nemoland  Pictures Nemoland 2013  Pictures Nemoland 2014  Pictures Nemoland now
- More information about Nemoland, projects and Stara Kamienica (pdf-file)
- All information about the Pol Skal mining plans in Stara Kamienica near Nemoland
- Internship and research reports
- History of the region
- The secrets of Nemoland: becoming nemo and travel to the legends
- New website about Nemoland
- Films about Nemoland, the mining plans and the Polish region
- Nemo-jubilee festival 1998-2018

- OFFER FOR VOLUNTEERS -  STUDENTS -  SCOUTS 
- EARTH CENTRE NEMOLAND
- HISTORY PROJECT 'KAMIENICA'
Welcome!
We invite you to contribute your energy and enthusiasm to building a community that sees earth as a source of inspiration.
In 1997 the Dutch grassroots nature association Nemo founded Nemoland as a non-profit cooperative and autonomous zone to live with what nature and the Polish villages of Stara Kamienica are offering.

Where
Nemoland, meaning ‘no man’s land’, is situated in the heart of Europe, between Prague, Dresden and Wroclaw, in the Sudety area of Polish Lower Silesia. It is hidden between Isermountains (Góry Izerskie), Giant Mountains (Karkonosze) and the Bóbr Valley Landscape Park (Park Doliny Bobru). Because of the turbulent history this border land in the centre of Europe became a no man’s land, where time lost its forward direction, went back and unveiled hidden memories. This uniquely beautiful mountain area provides a micro-climate, with an extreme variety of natural elements, quick changing weather types and characteristic seasons.

Why
Reconnecting with the earth: walking and working in nature, learning, reflecting, celebrating ecology, history and legends of the landscape, getting to know the Polish village, its inhabitants and customs. These are the tools to explore the energy and gifts of earth, to re-create and re-invent yourself but also to protect it from mining plans and other threats to nature, landscape and local community. To explore local nature and myth and legends of landscape could be tools to fight pollution, climate change and all other damage to ecology, nature and local community.

What
At Nemoland we welcome visitors, volunteers and partners who want to share their capacities and talents within the cooperative, based on the concept that the process is much more important than the product. The project of Nemoland is aiming at involving all nationalities, traditions, gender and ages. Being a bridge between Eastern and Western Europe, Nemoland invites international NGO’s, students, youth and disability organizations to participate in the Nemoland-projects.

Project ‘Back to Earth’
- Eco farm activities: gardening, cutting wood, keeping animals and making natural products
- building huts, animal facilities, bridges and other constructions
- recovery of historical landscape, restoration of footpaths and bridges and development of a walking network for the village
- educational exchange with village organizations and local schools
- organization of a village festival
- art and handicrafts workshops:
- storytelling and theatre performances
- for children: bushcraft, swimming in the creek, building huts, storytelling, rock climbing

We Offer
- 36 ha remote nature reserve around the Ramberg and the Kamienica river, with absolute silence and darkness
- walking and hiking routes all over the region
- small eco farm with vegetable gardens, orchard, meadows, animals
- place to stay, work and live in a natural environment with modest and ecological facilities (natural camping places, dormitories, rooms, huts, small campers, sanitary, kitchens) for groups and individuals
- facilities for activities: theatre, fire places, atelier for felting/weaving, legend hall, library, studio for yoga and meditation, Africa workshop
- workshop space for local eco-products and handicrafts
- youth programs for internships and volunteer camps
- exchange projects for NGO’s, creative groups, choirs, schools

NEMOLAND COOPERATIVE IS LOOKING FOR NEW PARTNERS
The Nemo Association wants to strengthen the Nemoland Cooperative giving opportunities to new partners within the concepts of Nemo, focused on:
- Agrarian development; gardening, animals, natural products
- Education, coaching or DIY-projects
- Handicrafts and art (installations, theatre, music, film)
- Eco/agro/village-tourism
- Events and festivals
- Intercultural exchange
- Art projects focused on theatre, crafts, filmmaking

More about Nemoland

Organization
Nemo was founded in 1988 in the Netherlands as a non-profit association for walkers and walking interests. Soon it became a broader association for nature related activities. The association, financed by its members, is independent of any government, fund, company or NGO. It has two locations: Nemoland Westerpark in Amsterdam and Nemoland Poland in Stara Kamienica in the Lower Silesia region in Poland. For the administration of Polish Nemoland, in 1997 Nemo founded a separate Polish organization: Fundacja Nemo.
- Since 1997 Nemo brought more than 4000 foreign people to Stara Kamienica to learn and taste the Polish village life and build Nemoland.
- More than 100 students from Dutch colleges and universities followed internships, workshops, and did research on sustainable and ecological development.
- In 2003 Nemo received a subsidy (Matra) from the Dutch government to support Polish village associations and to strengthen the local community.
- Twelve times over the course of its existence, Nemo has organized the ‘Dutch Day’ in Stara Kamienica to exchange Dutch and Polish culture.
Since 2009 Nemo has organized three Crossroads Festivals in Jelenia Góra, as a cultural event focused on cross border art.

Meanwhile Nemo has been collecting stories and legends of the former German and present Polish inhabitants, because we feel that oral memories are much more real than official history. The area of Stara Kamienica in particular, is a book of unknown stories. We see the simple and easily accessible activity of walking as a way of discovering, touching and reading these stories.

For the staff of Nemo their ‘Polish adventure’ in Stara Kamienica has been a long and often challenging process of ‘trial-and-error’. They have put a lot of effort into learning Polish language, history, customs and even cooking. From 2003 Nemoland faced a threat of total destruction by the Pol Skal mining plans in Mala Kamienica, just opposite their front-door, and plans for Uranium mines in nearby Kopaniec. Where national mining corporations saw potential financial profit, they, living and working as foreigners in Poland, and thus as outsiders, saw something much more precious: an “open mine” not of stones but of captivating stories and legends of Polish village life and its many visitors. After 20 years of their own metaphorical mining, the Nemo-workers want to show what they have found! That is why Nemoland will be re-opened in 2024 with a new concept, a new logo and new activities. Nemo welcomes groups, institutes, NGO’s and individuals, offering a clear structure within the Polish Nemo Foundation, with lots of possibilities to set up independent and common activities and projects. Target groups could be locals, international youth, students, disabled, refugees, volunteers, active tourists/families.

The region
The region of Nemoland received, contrary to the Giant Mountains, little attention from tourists and historians, even though the traces of the oldest glassworks, pagan worship places, the most beautiful half-timbered weaver houses and many natural and agricultural monuments are located here. Nowhere else is in immediate reach such a rich variety of nature, culture and landscape. The special features of this region are traces of early cultivation (such as stone walls, terraces, mill brooks, fords and paths), which are mostly still intact. The richness of nature is unique. Plants that are already extinct in Western Europe, are still to be found here. Once the area was known as a big landscape park, the "Toscane of Middle Europe". After the war the area became a ‘lost land’, because the people who lived there and the people who came to live there both lost their native land, while the landscape lost its names, monuments and memory. Like many other border regions in Europe, this area runs into danger due to lack of care and the threat of devastating mining projects. Protests against the mining plans made local inhabitants much more aware of their cultural and natural heritage. This resulted in all kinds of initiatives to protect nature and the historical value of the landscape, the value of community-building, and of local economy.

Philosophy
The philosophy of Nemo is that members, volunteers and guests contribute something of themselves to Nemoland. Thus Nemoland is created in an organic way and is developed by involvement of visitors who are invited to be more participants than consumers. The idea is to establish a creative exchange where those who come to participate in an ongoing creation of Nemoland, are in turn given an opportunity to re-create themselves by exploring the secrets of the Polish countryside, and ultimately promoting sustainable development of the region.

Nemoland offers free time & space and facilities to children and youth (of any age) for a better world, going back to Earth, with hands in the mud…

Picture: cleaning a river in Nemoland

How to get to Nemoland?
Navigation
Google Maps type "Nemoland Polen"
GPS location: 50° 53.857', 15° 31.857

1.            By car

a.    From Görlitz: cross the border to Zgorzelec and follow the signs to Jelenia Góra. After passing Luban and Gryfów, 13 km before Jelenia Góra after the village Pasiecznik, turn left to Stara Kamienica. Follow the right side of the river, passing Stara Kamienica. In Kromnów turn right to Kopaniec and at crossing turn right again to Chromiec. Just before Chromiec turn right to Nemoland.

b.    From Jelenia Góra: take the route Jelenia Góra - Szklarszka Poreba. After you passed Wojcieszyce turn right in the village of Piastów to the direction of Stara Kamienica/Barcinek. Then pass Piastów, and then on the crossroad turn left. Passing Kromnów Wola and Kopaniec, go straight to Chromiec. Just before the first sign of Chromiec there is at the right side a green sign of Nemo. Follow the road till the split and then take the right path, slightly uphill. In 200 meters and you are at the destination.

2.            By bus

a.    From outside Poland to Jelenia Góra by Eurolines.

b.    From Jelenia Góra by bus from station on Podwale in Jelenia Góra to Chromiec. Chromiec is the final stop on the bus. In Chromiec, you should go along the road towards Kopaniec. After the last house in Chromiec, you have to turn left. There will be a wooden sign NEMO. Continue to go straight all the time till the road splits. Take the right path, slightly uphill. In 200 meters and you are at the destination.  Distance from the bus stop in the center of Chromiec to Nemo: about 2.5 km.

3.            By train www.bahn.de cheap ticket to Görlitz. From there local train to Stara Kamienica.

4.            Carpooling by www.blablacar.nl  www.hitchhikers.org  www.carpooling.com  www.carpool.be

5.            By plane. Cheapest fights to Wroclaw by WizzAir http://wizzair.com/ There is a busservice from Wroclaw Airport to Nemoland: 1. Town bus from Airport to central bus station. 2 Bus from bus station to Jelenia Góra. 3 From Jelenia to Nemoland see Roko bus.

 Apply for detailed information and time schedules.