The Republic of Armenia began issuing banknotes in 1920. Designed by Armenian artists Arshak Fetvajyan and Hakob Koyojan, the banknotes were printed by Waterlow & Sons Limited in three denominations that are all dated 1919. When the country became the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, the currency was withdrawn. Armenia’s currency was replaced by the Soviet Russian banknotes until the end of 1922 when it became the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and eventually joined the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. .
A couple of years after the country was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a monetary reform took place on April 5, 1924, Transcaucasian money was replaced by the Soviet Union legal tender.
On September 21, 1991, proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union. The State Bank of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia has then changed its name to the Bank of the Republic of Armenia.
Before the introduction of the Armenian Dram on November 22, 1993, the country was using banknotes issued by the State Bank of the USSR and the Russian Federation for its legal tender. Since its 1993 issues, banknotes were printed by Giesecke & Devrient even after the bank was renamed the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia on April 27, 1993.
In its 1998-1999 issues, banknotes were introduced in all-new designs and enhanced security attributes featuring Armenian prominent personalities and their works. In 2001, the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia issued a 50,000-dram banknote as the country celebrated its 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity. Another commemorative issue was released in 2017 highlighting Noah’s Ark and Mount Ararat which is known to be the Ark’s resting place.
Finally, on November 22, 2017, the bank unveiled new designs for its newest family of notes in time for the 25th anniversary of the dram currency in the following year. Designed by Edward Kurginyan, Vardan Vardanyan, and Suren Simonyan, each note comes with a 5-mm wide Galaxy security thread, a watermark with 3d effects, a Laser Cut window, and a dual-color iridescent strip, making the series gain the “Best New Banknote Series” award.
