Slovenia – Banknote History

The Republic of Slovenia is a Balkan country located in Central Europe, bordered by Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, the Italian city of Trieste to the southwest, and shares the same border with Croatia to the east, southeast, and south. A part of the country also occupies the Istrian Peninsula with a shoreline along the Gulf of Venice. This small country is mostly elevated with terrain consisting of karstic ridges, plateaus, basins, and valleys.

Slovenia has been the confluence of many cultures and languages such as Romance, Slavic, and Germanic. The country had also been a territory of many empires including the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Austria-Hungary Empire. It was a state of the Kingdom of Serbia and a founding member state of Yugoslavia. Slovenia was also the first republic to break away from Yugoslavia in June 1991.

Official Banknotes of Slovenia

The Bank of Slovenia was formed on June 25, 1991. On October 8 of that year, the Slovenian tolar became the country’s official currency, replacing the convertible version of the Yugoslav dinar. Provisional notes were issued by the Republic of Slovenia highlighting its tallest mountain, Triglav, on the obverse design. On their reverse are the Duke Stone and a Carniolan Honey bee. All of these paper bills were produced by Cetis Celje without imprint.

The first tolar banknotes went into circulation on September 1992. Designed by Miljenko Licul and Zvone Kosovelj, this family of banknotes features portraits by Slovenian artist Rudi Spanzel. Featured personalities include author Primoz Trubar, scholar Janez Vajkard Valvasor, mathematician Jurij Vega, painter Richard Jakopic, composer Iacobus Gallus, architect Joze Plecnik, poet France Preseren, artist Ivana Kobilca, and writer Ivan Cankar. These banknotes were printed by De La Rue, with the exception of the 10,000 tolarjev which was produced by Giesecke & Devrient.