German Bank Notes are, on one side, economic monetary device to exchange goods and services, and on the other, a reflector of German history. German civilization since its creation as the Reich of 1871 period through World Wars era to East and West Germany division till the introduction of Euro banknotes since 1990 is mirrored through German Bank Note phases.
Official German Banknotes were allowed to be printed and issued by German central banks and German State Banks. Today German Banknotes are usually European Euro notes that has been incorporated since 1January 2002. Substituting the Deutsch Mark (the official German Bank note till then), Euro banknotes have been legally introduced to the German economy, in all states who participated in the European monetary union. In Germany, Deutsche Bundesbank is authorized institution to issue Euro banknotes.
The Euro banknotes are issued in seven denominations: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 Euros. The thematic blueprint of German Banknotes or the Euro notes include the “Ages and Styles of Europe”, designed by Austrian artist Robert Kalina. The main features of the current German Bank Notes are based on windows and gateways on the front side and bridges on the reverse.
Different notes symbolize different architectural style of seven consecutive periods of European Culture:
- The Classical period in 5 Euro notes
- The Romanesque period in 10 Euro notes
- The Gothic period in 20 Euro notes
- The Renaissance in 50 Euro notes
- The Baroque and Rococo in 100 Euro notes
- The age of iron and glass architecture in 200 Euro notes
- The modern 20th century architecture in 500 Euro notes.
However, German Euro banknotes can identified through print of serial numbers starting with letter "X. and are produced by two security printers (a) one belonging to Deutsche Bundesbank – the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin; (b) A private printer Giesecke and Devrient in Leipzig and Munich.
