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Design Interesting Kuwait

A cross on the KD1 note?

A forum member brought up an interesting topic which I hadn’t been aware of before.

It seems the one dinar note has a picture of Shuwaikh port on one side. The picture is supposed to be of the first ship which docked at Shuwaikh. It happened to be a Swiss ship, so it had a cross on the chimney, like the one that appears on the Swiss flag. For obvious reasons the cross was colored out. I of course didn’t believe the story, but then I happened to come across one such note.

The picture above is the KD1 note he came across that has the Swiss flag. I quickly opened my wallet and checked the KD1 notes I had and noticed the chimney on mine didn’t contain the flag (check image below).

I thought this was very interesting specially since I hadn’t heard of this before. It reminded me of the Saudi airlines logo which used to have a hidden cross in it as well (not deliberately of course). Below is a scan I made from the design book Pentagram: The Compendium regarding the Saudia logo and also a brief mention of the Swiss flag and the Middle East.

Thanks lloyd_911

33 replies on “A cross on the KD1 note?”

I don’t think its a matter of religious sentiment, but the fact that a country’s currency shouldn’t have another country’s national symbol displayed on its face.

its funny how the sign of the cross is connected with religion when in reality its just a way the Romans crucified people, the cross itself has no merit when it comes to religion im just surprised that people are not educated enough to realize this in this day and age

الدينار الي فيه الصليب عل قولتنا ليمتيد اديشين كان موجود
بالطبعات الاولية لان تم اتخاذ صورة الميناء اثناء وجود باخرة سويسرية
وبعدين تلاحقو عل الموضوع وشالو العلم
والدينار الي عل صليب مرغوووب بشدة عند هواة العملات وقيمته اغلا من سعره

If a cross on the first ship that ever landed in Kuwait’s first modern port is offensive, then why bother with the subject in the first place? Draw a picture of the first camel to enter Jahra Gate instead and everything will be fine and dandy.

I agree with Sahar.

The swiss flag on Kuwaiti dinar was removed some 11 years ago. I remember this very well because I was in highschool when the topic was raised. its sad and pitiful that we’re still discussing ancient history as a current event.

@Bink, no it was not on the first editions of the Kuwaiti dinars… it lasted there for many many years and was removed only after some religious extremest started to use it to cause disturbance in the country… only then it was removed. before that people accepted it as swiss flag. i remember the case very well.

wooow people have alot of time on their hands!..how does this matter?
a microscopic cross on the dinar?? what will we dooo??? o my! *sarcasm*

whoever found it necessary to blackout the swiss flag is really lame..and dont get me started on the saudi logo..lool this is just hilarious! “a cross! quick get rid of it b4 everyone converts!”

Ah so that’s why Swissair no longer flies to Kuwait, now it makes sense (not!)

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biggie27 says “im just surprised that people are not educated enough to realize this in this day and age”

Ahahahahahahahahhahahahahahha

Although, the cross is seen by Christians as a symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, The cross actually predates Christianity, the cross was used as symbol in Pagan Egypt long before its use in Christianity. As such, the cross was actually condemned by early Christian scholars because of its Pagan roots.
@ShoSho – The fish is also a symbol rooted in Paganism. It was the outline of the great mother goddesses’ vulva. The symbol was so revered that early Christians adopted the symbol while disregarding its original meaning. These days, a fish swimming towards the left resembles the first letter of the Greek alphabet (Alpha) and represents the beginning for Christians, as in “I am the Alpha and Omega”. One may also find the fished used bu proponents of Darwinism, in which case, the fish will have the words Darwin in the middle of it and little feet at the bottom.

@gunsmoke and @luma. I don’t understand your reasoning. The picture commemorates a historic occasion and as luck would have it, the first ship to dock happened to be registered in a country with a cross in its flag. To take the commemoration of a historic day in the country’s short unmemorable history and interpret it as something else is silly. If the ship was Japanese or Dutch, no one would have said anything. In any case, there are plenty of cases of the national icons to appear elsewhere: For example the flag of Kuwait, along with those of the UAE, Oman, Jordan,Palestine and Sudan celebrate the flag of the the Great Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Ottomans. Surely, there is no greater national symbol than the flag?

hmmm…makes me think, some countries which don’t have their own national airline … probably don’t have any sky! 🙂

maybe they should also ban the swiss army knives, the crossroads, airplanes 9they look like a cross), Chevrolet cars (the sign looks like a cross) and the list goes on and on…

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