Romania Banknote History

Romania is at the junction of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe along with Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Black Sea. Romania is well-known for Transylvania which is a forested region bordered by the Carpathian mountain range and the Apuseni mountains. Its fortified castles, especially the Bran Castle that has long been associated with Dracula, also make the nation notable.

The Romanian Leu In A Nutshell

The national currency of Romania is the leu which is subdivided into 100 bani. There have been four leu currencies since 1867. The first leu banknotes were issued in 1877 with the Roman Emperor Trajan’s image showing on the watermark area. These paper bills were printed by the Banque de France in Paris.

After King Michael stepped down, Romania became the Romanian People’s Republic and the second leu was established when the country revalued its currency in August 1947. The revaluation was called “Marea Stabilizare” or the Great Stabilization which replaced the first leu at a rate of 20,000:1.

Romania revalued its currency again in January 1952 and called the new monetary unit the third leu. What makes the third leu different is that their rates would vary depending on the kind of exchange. A common design element visible on the third leu banknotes issued in 1952 is the country’s coat of arms.

New Banknotes in Romania

The fourth leu was introduced in July 2005 with banknotes having the same size as the euro notes so that there’s no need for machine refitting when the country switches to the euro. These banknotes are on plastic polymer and feature a Romanian fauna and a Romanian personality on the obverse while the reverse depicts a building or a landmark. They also bear a transparent window in the form of an object relative to the personality depicted on their respective obverse side.