Matthew Patay's
Note of the Month

June 2002

This month's featured note is from Russia.
The denomination is 500 Rubles and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money (SCWPM) Number is P-271.

(obverse)
The banknote is brown-violet on multicolored under print.  A statue of Peter the Great and a sailing ship dockside in port of Arkhangelsk is at center.

The following information was obtained from SPTIMES.COM:

PETER THE GREAT (PETER ALEXEEVICH)

1672-1725
CZAR 1682-1721
EMPEROR OF ALL RUSSIA 1721-1725

Peter the Great was the fourteenth child of Alexei Mikhailovich, born on May 30, 1672, from his second marriage to Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina. Having ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V from 1682, with Ivan's death in 1696, Peter was officially declared Sovereign of all Russia.

During his reign, Peter undertook extensive reforms: He created a regular army and navy, subjugated the Church to the state and introduced new administrative and territorial divisions of the country. He paid particular attention to the development of science. He was a far-sighted and skillful diplomat and a talented military leader.

Under Peter's rule, Russia became a great European nation. In 1721, he proclaimed Russia an Empire and was accorded the title of Emperor of All Russia, Great Father of the Fatherland and "the Great."  He married twice and had 11 children, many of whom died in infancy. The eldest son from his first marriage, Czarevich Alexei, was convicted of high treason by his father and secretly executed in 1718.

Peter died from a chill on January 28, 1725, without nominating an heir. He was buried in the Cathedral of the St. Peter and St. Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

The note is dated 1997 but was issued in (1998).

(reverse)
A monastery in Solovetsky Island, Valaam Archipelago is at center.

The following information was obtained from the Nordic Travel Website:

Valaam Archipelago is one of the most interesting cultural, historical and nature attractions in the North of Russia. The ancient Valaam Monastery is situated here, first mentioned in written records dated 960 AD.

For many years the Monastery was a religious and cultural center of Russia supported by Russian Tzars and the Russian Church. The Monastery was completely self-sufficient and monks produced all the necessary products themselves while working at small factories, saw-mills, farms and constructing buildings.

At the beginning of the 20th century the Valaam Monastery became one of the wealthiest Russian Monasteries, comprising a kind of a small state with 13 smaller monasteries under their control. The Monastery sent missionaries to different parts of the world. They reached the Far East, the Aleutian Islands and Alaska.

Actually there is one more Valaam Monastery, it is within the territory of Finland. It was established by the monks who had had to leave their Monastery in Russia when it closed in 1939.

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