The Polish 500 Złotych note is a denomination of Polish currency. The bill's dimensions are 150 × 75 mm. It has been put into circulation on 10 February 2017. The obverse of the note features a likeness of King

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...

. The reverse depicts a crowned eagle and the

Wilanów Palace Wilanów Palace ( pl, Pałac w Wilanowie, ) is a former royal palace located in the Wilanów district of Warsaw, Poland. Wilanów Palace survived Poland's partitions and both World Wars, and so serves as a reminder of the culture of the Polish ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. It has been designed by

Andrzej Heidrich Andrzej Ryszard Heidrich (November 6, 1928 – October 20, 2019) was a Polish graphic artist and type designer who designed Polish bank notes. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated with honors. He designed bank notes for the Natio ...

who designed the remaining notes of the 1994/2012 series as well. The banknotes feature a double-letter prefix and a seven-digit serial number.

History

First złoty banknotes

A 500 złotych note was among the treasury notes issued in 1794.

Second złoty banknotes

Once the złoty was reinstated in 1924, a 500 złotych note featuring an image of

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, an ...

, dated 1919 and printed in advance in United Kingdom, was put into circulation. It was the highest-value note in circulation until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Under the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

, the

Bank of Issue in Poland Bank of Issue in Poland ( pl, Bank Emisyjny w Polsce, german: Emissionbank in Polen, also translated into English variously as the ''Bank of Issue'', ''Issue Bank'', ''Issuing Bank'' or ''Emitting Bank in Poland'') was a bank created by Nazi German ...

issued a 500 złotych note dated 1940. The so-called Lublin series (''seria lubelska'') of banknotes dated 1944 included a 500 złotych note. It was withdrawn in 1947, earlier than the other notes from the same series, due to being forged particularly often. Two other 500 złotych notes followed. They were dated 1946 and 1947 and entered circulation in 1946 and 1949, respectively. Both were withdrawn in 1950.

Third złoty banknotes

In 1950, a series of notes dated 1948 was introduced. It included a 500 złotych note, the largest of the series, that featured a likeness of a miner on the front and three miners at work on the back. These notes circulated between 1950 and 1977. From January 1975 onwards, the 1948 series started being replaced with new, smaller notes. A likeness of Tadeusz Kościuszko was once again chosen for the 500 złotych note. These notes are dated 1974, 1976, 1979, and 1982, the latter ones being issued into the 1990s without the date being changed. They circulated until the end of 1996. Replaced by the fourth złoty, they could be exchanged for the new currency until the end of 2010.

Current banknotes

In 1995, a new series of notes was introduced. Initially, it included values of 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 złotych. In 2017, the

National Bank of Poland The Narodowy Bank Polski (; the National Bank of Poland), often abbreviated to NBP, is the central bank of Poland, founded in 1945. It controls the issuing of Poland's currency, the Polish złoty. The bank is headquartered in Warsaw, and has bran ...

put the 500 złotych note into circulation in order to facilitate cash settlements between individuals, decrease the currency management costs for entrepreneurs and the central bank, as well as allow the bank to improve the management of the supply of circulating banknotes.

References

External links

The National Bank of Poland (in English)''O banknocie 500 zł'' (About the 500 zł banknote, in Polish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:500 Zlotych Currencies introduced in 1995 Banknotes of Poland Five-hundred-base-unit banknotes