{"id":104303,"date":"2026-07-28T14:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/104303\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T14:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:20:08","slug":"how-to-design-paper-money-that-represents-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/104303\/","title":{"rendered":"How to design paper money that represents Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"content\">In the eyes of many of its citizens, the European Union is more than a technocratic bloc. Besides Europe\u2019s unity, it symbolises a shared culture and way of life. In the eyes of the euro area\u2019s leaders, an upgrade of its banknotes\u2014used by 21 of the EU\u2019s 27 member states, and more than 20 years old\u2014is a chance to show confidence in the continent.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ECB-POLICY-BANKNOTE-7_1785231590677_1785231606138_e2d3df59-da07-4797-a13a-f332ecbe6401.JPG\" alt=\"European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde presents shortlisted designs for future euro banknotes at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, July 23, 2026. (REUTERS)\" title=\"European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde presents shortlisted designs for future euro banknotes at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, July 23, 2026. (REUTERS)\" width=\"360\" height=\"202\" loading=\"eager\"\/>European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde presents shortlisted designs for future euro banknotes at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, July 23, 2026. (REUTERS)<\/p>\n<p class=\"content paywall\">The original notes, issued in 2002 and given a facelift in 2013, display imaginary bridges, doorways and windows\u2014intended to reflect Europe\u2019s openness and connectedness, but also to avoid rubbing any country up the wrong way. Each denomination shows a European architectural style, from Romanesque to Rococo. But they were a dull, soulless choice. The novelty of the euro provided most of the excitement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content hide\">The European Central Bank and its classical-music-loving president, Christine Lagarde, want the new notes to represent more. The bank has narrowed the field to two thematic options. The first is to charm users with beautiful birds and rivers on the front of the notes, while hiding buildings hardly anyone will recognise\u2014the EU\u2019s principal buildings, including the ECB tower\u2014on the reverse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content hide\">The other is a more confident attempt to show off European culture. On the front would be great scientists and artists, such as Maria Sklodowska Curie, who won Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, or Ludwig van Beethoven, whose final symphony concludes with \u201cOde to Joy\u201d, the EU\u2019s anthem. The reverse shows everyday spheres of culture, such as choirs, libraries or city squares (though these are hardly peculiar to Europe).<\/p>\n<p class=\"content hide\">Bravely, the ECB has asked for public feedback on ten sets of mostly well-crafted designs. On social media Europeans are taking the opportunity to provide their own images of what is truly European: disused barriers at borders; an open plastic bottle with an attached cap; two Italian DJs on a balcony, oblivious to the world\u2019s troubles, making music while smoking and drinking Campari. Another idea is to print an out-of-office reply on notes, saying \u201cBack in September\u201d. The Economist\u2019s favourite, though, is for a note bearing half a dozen famous faces: Britain\u2019s prime ministers since Brexit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the eyes of many of its citizens, the European Union is more than a technocratic bloc. Besides&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[37623,2487,1858,44211,40,797],"class_list":["post-104303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-european-central-bank","tag-banknotes","tag-euro-area","tag-european-central-bank","tag-european-culture","tag-european-union","tag-member-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}