page_title: Euro banknotes
section_title: Bridges
hierarchical_section_title: Euro banknotes / Design / Bridges
caption_attribution_description: English: Particulars of the new 20€ banknotes Italiano: Particolari della nuova banconota da 20 euro.
context_page_description: Banknotes of the euro, the currency of the euro area and institutions, have been in circulation since the first series was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the European Central Bank. In 1999 the euro was introduced virtually, and in 2002 notes and coins began to circulate. The euro rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the European Union.
  Denominations of the notes range from €5 to €500 and, unlike euro coins, the design is identical across the whole of the Eurozone, although they are issued and printed in various member states. The euro banknotes are pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel. They measure from 120 by 62 millimetres to 160 by 82 millimetres and have a variety of color schemes. The euro notes contain many complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink characteristics, holograms, optically variable inks and microprinting that document their authenticity. While euro coins have a national side indicating the country of issue, euro notes lack this.
context_section_description: Due to the great number of historic bridges, arches, and gateways throughout the European continent, all the structures represented on the notes are entirely stylised illustrations of the relevant architectural styles, designed to evoke the landmarks within the European Union, representing various European ages and styles. For example, the 5 euro note has a generic rendition of Classical architecture, the 10 euro note of Romanesque architecture, the 20 euro note of Gothic architecture, the 50 euro note of the Renaissance, the 100 euro note of Baroque and Rococo, the 200 euro note of Art Nouveau and the 500 euro note of modern architecture. The initial designs by Robert Kalina were of actual bridges, including the Rialto Bridge in Venice and the Pont de Neuilly in Paris, and were subsequently rendered more generic. In 2011, Dutch artist Robin Stam and the town of Spijkenisse in the Netherlands built seven bridges of colored concrete after the designs on the seven euro banknotes.
caption: Face of Europa on the new 20 euro banknote (ES2).
exif: {}