Challenge 3: Why the green cross?

Street furniture is something that often attracts the eye and sets people wondering. When we visit a different country we are immediately drawn towards the little differences that throw us out of our daily routines. These are also the features of a country or city that help to give it its identity; yellow taxis in New York, red phone and letter boxes in the UK, and - subject of my latest challenge - green pharmacie signs in France.

Philippa sent me a mail with the following questions about these very visually obvious elements in French cities, towns and villages across the country;

"Why are they green? Why a cross? When did this convention start? And who makes the new ones with the flashing lights, and programs them so that it seems no two have the exact same pattern and motion?"

Here there are in fact four questions in one;

• Why that shape?
• Why that particular colour?
• Since when has this been in force?
• And who makes and programmes these signs?

I will answer all of these but not in this particular order!

The easiest question to answer is when did this convention start. The green cross as symbol of the Conseil National de l’Ordre des Pharmaciens was registered in 1984. Although owners of pharmacies are not obliged to use this symbol, the registering of the green cross meant that no-one else working in a similar profession could use it.

Why though did they choose this particular shape and colour? The cross is obviously a reference to the 'Croix-Rouge', the international humanitarian movement set up in Geneva in 1864 with the goal of assisting those injured in wars and conflicts. Indeed, many pharmacies in France did originally display a red cross on their shops, up until 1913 when a law banned such usage of this symbol and colour.

The association of 'pharmaciens' in France needed their own colour, but why did they choose green? There is no clear answer to this particular question, although most sources seem to agree that it simply makes a link to the plants that are used in the fabrication of the remedies they sell. The colour is though particularly well chosen as it works very well on a neon sign in daylight!

But what about these neon signs? Who makes them and why are they seemingly all different? A quick spin on the web throws up one manufacturer, and also provides an answer to the second question too. This particular company, based in the Paris region, sells three different models, each of which is programmable via a supplied piece of software offering dozens of different animations.

Which leads me to a question of my own. If these signs are programmable, why has the sign on the pharmacie opposite my apartment shown the wrong time for the last five years?

Challenge me!
Seen something in Paris that has caught your eye but remains a mystery, or ever wondered about obscure people or events in the city's past? Challenge me to find the answers!