Euro Banknotes - Denominations

Denominations

There are seven different denominations of the euro banknotes, each having a distinctive colour and size. The design for each of them has a common theme of European architecture in various artistic eras. The obverse of the banknote features windows or gateways while the reverse bears different types of bridges. The architectural examples are stylised illustrations, not representations of existing monuments.

All the notes bear the EU Flag, the initials of the European Central Bank in five linguistic variants (BCE, ECB, EZB, ΕΚΤ, EKP—thus covering 18 out of 23 official languages of the EU27), a map of Europe on the reverse, the name "euro" in both Latin and Greek script (EURO / ΕΥΡΩ) and the signature of the first, second or third president of the ECB. The 12 stars from the EU Flag are also incorporated into every note.

The euro banknote designs were chosen from 44 proposals in a design competition, launched by The Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) on 12 February 1996. The winning entry, created by Robert Kalina from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, was selected on 3 December 1996.