Pharmacy Crosses – Origin and Purpose

Introduction

Pharmacy Crosses, we all know what they are and they are a familiar site across the world symbolising that a shop is designated as a Pharmacy but where does this symbol originate from?

History

The earliest use of symbols in pharmacies or earlier apothecaries was that of Asclepius’ staff, Asclepius being the Greek God of Medicine. His staff was iconic for the two snakes that were seen wrapped around it and has become a common symbol used even in modern medicine. In the UK the symbol is still used by the NHS and hospitals.

First Green Pharmacy Crosses

According to WellcomeCollection.org (2017), it is only in the late 20th century that the use of green crosses became popular and widespread across continental Europe, replacing the previous red crosses that were adopted by ‘The Red Cross’ in 1863. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s that the use of green Pharmacy Crosses came to the UK as a standard symbol for Pharmacies as stipulated by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

LED Pharmacy Crosses

Nowadays the use of illuminated Pharmacy Crosses has become the norm as businesses compete for consumer attention on a daily basis. Before the introduction of LEDs, illumination was done by halogen bulbs which at the time may have been effective but required plenty of power to run and provided non uniform lighting.

Further Information

For any Pharmacies looking to stand out and catch consumer attention while not breaking the bank at the same time, LED Pharmacy Crosses are the only option. Take our ECO Cross Range for example, a simple LED solution providing an eye catching high brightness, matched with great build quality and packed full of animations and custom text options to personalise the cross to your business. These signs use much less power than previous signage and are even effective during day time hours.

If you are interested in learning more about any of our products or speaking to a member of our team please send an email to [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as we can.