Saed News: A fascinating story that will truly leave you astonished: There was a time in Russia when men who wanted to keep a beard had to pay a beard tax.
According to the Historical Service of Saed News, in the 17th century, Peter the Great, the famous Russian Tsar, decided to modernize the people of Russia. One of his strange initiatives was imposing a "beard tax"! He believed that beards were a sign of backwardness, and that to resemble Europeans, Russians needed to get rid of them.
Men who didn’t want to shave their beards were forced to pay a tax, in exchange for which they received a metal token indicating that they had purchased the right to have a beard.
Beard Tax Token: Anyone who paid the tax was given one of these tokens as proof.
Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1682 to 1725.
After visiting European countries, especially the Netherlands and England, he was deeply influenced by Western modern culture. He observed that in those countries, people had a neater appearance, and long, unkempt beards were considered symbols of backwardness and lack of civilization.
Peter, especially in his efforts to modernize the military and state institutions, viewed beards as symbols of old traditions and conservatism in Russia that needed to be changed.
Portrait of Peter the Great: Peter himself only wore a mustache and shaved his beard.
