Paper money is not only used as a means of subsistence. The banknotes are interesting in and of themselves - from an aesthetic and cultural point of view. The dollars depict prominent US politicians, the euro - windows, gates and bridges as symbols of the openness and unity of European countries. And in the Russian currency - cities and historical monuments.
History of the new Russian currency
Until 1991, V. I. Lenin. After B. N. Yeltsin was elected president on June 12, 1991, the political power in the country changed and demanded a change in the appearance of the currency. And Lenin in the Russian ruble was quickly exchanged for an image of the Kremlin. It was a fairly good decision for that turbulent time. The Kremlin is a symbol of the power and power of the state, its main fortress and stronghold.
But in fact, until the fall of 1993, new banknotes were walking around the country and the former Soviet republics simultaneously with the old banknotes of Soviet symbols.
Initially, the government had doubts about whether the ruble should be the country's currency at all, or whether to put new banknotes into circulation. But the ruble was kept, and in 1992 the artists of Goznak began their responsible and complex work - the sketches of the new ruble banknotes.
The idea of banknotes with the image of the city series was the fruit of the work of the entire team of the Goznak leadership. The idea was simple and ingenious - the depiction of cities has no clear ideological basis. If you have already depicted the Moscow Kremlin, then you can continue this theme and expand the horizons.
Due to the difficult economic situation in the country, work periodically stopped. The banknotes came into circulation only in 1995 and were finalized by 1997 after the denomination.
The new images on the banknotes were made by Goznak artists Igor Krylov and Alexey Timofeev. In complete secrecy, under a subscription not to disclose data, in offices without telephones and other means of communication, important work was carried out. All sketches were done by hand only. Photographs and paintings were taken as sources. Sometimes visits were made to the site for sketches from nature.
In 2004, another minor modification of the banknotes took place, and now you can see on them only those cities that were not captured by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Cities on banknotes
10 rubles - Krasnoyarsk. On the front side there is the chapel of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. This saint was revered in Russia as the patroness of the family and domestic animals. And next to the temple on the banknote there is a bridge across the Yenisei, included in the UNESCO book as one of the best bridges in the world.
50 rubles - St. Petersburg. The front side shows the embankment of St. Petersburg. The marble female figure symbolizes the Neva, and the column is a symbol of sea power. In the background is the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the back - the building of the former stock exchange and the Rostral Column.
100 rubles - Moscow. The obverse shows the Apollo quadriga from the portico of the Bolshoi Theater. And on the reverse side there is a general view of the building of the Bolshoi Theater itself.
500 rubles - Arkhangelsk. On the front side of the bill, you can see a monument to Peter I against the background of the sea station. On the reverse side - the Solovetsky Monastery - one of the main Christian shrines in Russia.
1000 rubles - Yaroslavl. On the front side there is a monument to Yaroslav the Wise in front of the Transfiguration Monastery in Yaroslavl. The local humorous name is "a man with a cake". In fact, in the hands of Yaroslav, the temple is a symbol of the Orthodox Church. On the back there is also the Church of St. John the Baptist, a cultural monument of world significance.
5000 rubles - Khabarovsk. On the front side there is a monument to the Governor of Eastern Siberia N. N. Muravyov-Amursky, who laid the foundation for the return of the Amur to Russia. On the other hand, there is the Tsarsky Amur Bridge, the longest on the Transsib - 2700 meters.
