Canada had the idea for UV passports first and these photos prove it

When Norway released its new range of passports last year (above), they were instantly hailed as a design classic.

Their sleek cover motifs and classy graphics on the inside were beautiful, of course, but the pièce de résistance was only revealed under UV light where the designs were completely transformed.

In a similar vein, Canada's passports have caused a stir this week, after images of the pages under UV light were posted on Imgur.

But the new passports have actually been available since the summer 2013, Canada just hadn't told anyone about it.

The "normal ink" pages are all available from the official Canadian government website, except they do not show the "optically variable ink" pages - a feature which is only mentioned in passing on another page.

Many citizens probably thought they had just been fobbed off with some pleasant, conservative images of "the Bluenose, the Parliament Buildings and old dead white guys aplenty," as the National Post puts it. That was until the beautiful UV designs were published by Chachichachichicken and everyone was blown away.

So here is a selection in all their glory (in normal light and then in UV light):

You can see the full set here.

More: Hey rest of the world, Norway's passports are much cooler than yours