page_title: Banknotes of the Lithuanian litas
section_title: 20 litų
hierarchical_section_title: Banknotes of the Lithuanian litas / 20 litų
context_page_description: The modern banknotes of Lithuania are denominated in litas. All banknotes were of the same size except for the 500 litų banknote. They bore signatures of Minister of Finance and/or of Chairperson of the Bank of Lithuania Board. 10, 20, and 50 litų banknotes had 4 releases. This was mainly due to security reasons: number of security features was gradually increased from virtually 0, to 9, 14 and eventually to 17. The first release bore the date "1991" but were actually released to the public in 1993 for a very brief time. Since they were replaced in the same year, the first release is dated to 1991 and the second to 1993.
  The banknotes were not printed in Lithuania. At first they were printed by the United States Banknote Corporation, later by the UK-based Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd. and the Germany-based Giesecke & Devrient GmbH.
context_section_description: The banknote features a portrait of the Lithuanian romantic poet Maironis (real name Jonas Mačiulis, 1862–1932) who was a great patriot and made efforts to "wake up" the nation, to inspire resistance to Russification policies and fight for the independence of Lithuania from Imperial Russia.
  The obverse features the Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas, with its carillon tower (the most famous exhibit in the museum is a wreckage of "Lituanica" airplane). The reverse also depicts the Statue of Liberty by Juozas Zikaras, commemorating the declaration of Lithuania's independence in 1918. The 20 litų banknote released in 1930 also featured the same Statue of Liberty on the back, just it is on the left hand side. The obverse of the 1930 banknote featured Vytautas the Great himself.
  The banknotes printed in 1991, together with the 10 litų banknotes, started an international scandal. The 1991 release was replaced very quickly. The 1993 release was designed by Justas Tolvaišis. The last issue was designed by Giedrius Jonaitis. The major change in 2001 issue was moving the Statue of Liberty from the left hand side to the right on the back.
caption: 20 litų banknote (2001 release). Compare with 1991, 1993, and 1997 releases.
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