Usually I tend to find and share photos of Kuwait from the early days like the 50s and 60s but recently I came across a whole bunch of photos of Kuwait taken in 1980. What I find fascinating with these specific photos is that Kuwait usually tends to look really great in the really old photos I share but in these Kuwait just looks really gritty. I think the early 80s were a transitional period between old and new and based on the photos it’s as if all the beautiful old buildings were just starting to fall apart.
Photos taken from the MIT Libraries
17 replies on “Kuwait Circa 1980”
Beautiful pictures..! It’s nice seeing Old Kuwait.
Beautiful. what a time it was, just listening to stories from my mum’s childhood mesmerizes me.
Awesome photos. Most of them look like shots of Souq Mubarakiya?
There’s even a cop issuing a violation in the 11th pic 🙂
yes, but the cars are more orderly parked then today.
the only difference i see between then and now are the cars on the street
You cant be serious.
The cameras got better and these are locations that were simply not deemed photo-worthy in the 50s and 60s but they were/are still there.. Hell, image 5 looks parts of Hawalli TODAY!!
https://3m3cna178rlp1rclw43v482p.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/gallery/kuwait1980/126496_cp.jpg
thats an imagine taken from the back of the round Al Salam building. All those buildings on the left are still there. They looked like they were falling apart back in 1980, imagine how they look today.
the cause is very simple , in the early 1980s we started to see the results of the change that happened to the kuwaiti people demographics. in the 1960s and 1970s around 70,000 bedouins from saudi arabia and iraq were given the kuwaiti citizenship for political reasons. ( the kuwaitis were 160,000 in 1965)
as a result of that the islamists and conservatives have gained alot of power in the parliament and in the society in general.
since then kuwait have changed
This didn’t just happen to Kuwait. It happened to every Arab nation. And the result is this fine mess.
Bedouons are NOT to be blamed, we are not scapegoats, blaming us for the governments failure wont get you anywhere.
Yes, this gives me perspective on the fine mess that Kuwait is today.
Old golden days……they were the best time
I love this photo
https://3m3cna178rlp1rclw43v482p.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/gallery/kuwait1980/126458_cp.jpg
There is a cloak tower on the back, which is this place?
I think that’s the Seif Palace.. 🙂
80’s were awesome.
really good music,
great tv shows on ktv2,
kuwait qualified for the world cup,
10kd was like a million kd for us kids,
never had to carry a civil id,
110mm cameras
kung fu shoes,
long drives from fahaheel to kuwait city via the 40 road,
video club
really man 80’s was a great time. we had the best of both worlds, the old and the new..