Russian orthodox priests complained about a new 1,000 ruble note because the church dome illustrated on the bill doesn’t feature a cross. Thing is, the real 17th century church doesn’t have a cross either. It did, but in 1917 the Bolsheviks removed it from the building which is now a museum. The other religious site featured on the bill is an minaret featuring an Islamic crescent moon, just like the actual building. Both structures are located in the Kazan Kremlin in Western Russia. The Russian bank responded to the controversy by halting circulation of the new note.
From The Guardian:
Pavel Ostrovsky, a priest, said on Telegram that the bill was either the result of “the stupidity of the designers” or a “deliberate provocation” by the “followers of Islam” in Tatarstan.
The celebrity priest, who has 174,000 followers on the app, said “there was no difference what the building looks like in real life” as most Russians do not know its history.
“Currently a decision was taken to stop the production of the notes,” the central bank said in a rare U-turn on Wednesday.
