The koruna, or crown (

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

: Kč;

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

: CZK, ), has been the currency of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

since 1993. The koruna is one of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's eight currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro in the future. The official name in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

is (plural , though the zero-suffixed

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

form is used on banknotes and coins of value 5 Kč or higher). The

ISO 4217 ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines alpha codes and numeric codes for the representation of currencies and provides information about the relationships between individ ...

code is CZK and the local acronym is Kč, which is placed after the numeric value (e.g., "50 Kč") or sometimes before it (as is seen on the 10-koruna coin). One crown is made up of 100 ''

hellers Guy Hellers (; born 10 October 1964) is a Luxembourgish football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. He was the head coach of the Luxembourg national team, having succeeded Dane Allan Simonsen in 2004. In 2010, Hellers res ...

'' (abbreviated as "h", official name in Czech:

singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular or sounder, a group of boar, see List of animal names * Singular (band), a Thai jazz pop duo *'' Singula ...

: ,

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...

: ,

: – used with numbers higher or equal to 5 – e.g. ), but hellers have now been withdrawn from circulation, and the smallest unit of physical currency is 1 Kč.

History

In 1892, the

Austro-Hungarian krone The krone (alternatively crown; , , , , , , , , , ) was the official currency of Austria-Hungary from 1892 (when it replaced the Austro-Hungarian gulden, gulden as part of the adoption of the gold standard) until the dissolution of the empire in ...

replaced the gulden at the rate of two kronen to one gulden (which is also the reason why the 10 Kč coin had been nicknamed or "fiver" - and has been in use in informal conversation up until nowadays). The name was suggested by the emperor,

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

. After Austria-Hungary dissolved in 1918,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

was the only successor state to retain the name of its imperial-era currency. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the currency on the occupied Czech territory was artificially weakened. The Czechoslovak crown was restored after the war. It underwent a highly controversial monetary reform in 1953. The Czech koruna replaced the Czechoslovak koruna in 1993 after the dissolution of

. It first consisted of overstamped 20 Kčs, 50 Kčs, 100 Kčs, 500 Kčs, and 1,000 Kčs banknotes, and a new series was properly introduced in 1993. In November 2013, the

Czech National Bank The Czech National Bank, (, ČNB) is the central bank and financial market supervisor in the Czech Republic, headquartered in Prague. It is a member of the European System of Central Banks. It was established on from the division of the State ...

(ČNB) intervened to weaken the exchange rate of the koruna through a monetary stimulus to stop the currency from excessive strengthening. This was meant to support the Czech economy, mainly focused on export, but people were unhappy about this step because it was set up before Christmas, which led to raising the prices of imported goods. In late 2016, the ČNB stated that the return to conventional monetary policy was planned for mid-2017. After higher-than-expected inflation and other figures, the national bank removed the cap at a special monetary meeting on April 6, 2017. The koruna avoided significant volatility and

City Index Group City Index is a global provider of spread betting, contracts for difference (CFD) and foreign exchange (FX) trading services. Founded in the United Kingdom in 1983, it currently operates as part of the Nasdaq-listed financial services group Ston ...

stated: "If you want to drop a

currency peg A fixed exchange rate, often called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is fixed or pegged by a monetary authority against the value of another currency, a basket of other currencies, or another ...

, then the ČNB can show you how to do it".

Euro adoption discussion

The Czech Republic planned to adopt the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

in 2010, but its government suspended that plan indefinitely in 2005. Although the country is economically well positioned to adopt the euro, there is considerable opposition to the move within the Czech Republic. According to a survey conducted in April 2014, only 16% of the Czech population was in favour of replacing the koruna with the euro. As reported by an April 2018 survey by CVVM (Public Opinion Research Center), this value remained at nearly identical levels between 2014-18, with only 20% of the Czech population above 15 years old supporting euro adoption.

Coins

The coins of the Czech koruna increase in size and weight with value. In 1993, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 haléřů (h), 1 Kč, 2 Kč, 5 Kč, 10 Kč, 20 Kč and 50 Kč. The 10 h and 20 h coins were taken out of circulation by 31 October 2003 and the 50 h coins by 31 August 2008 due to their diminishing purchasing power and circulation. However, financial amounts are still written with the accuracy of 1-haléř (CZK 0.01); prices in retail shops are usually multiples of CZK 0.10. When cash transactions are made, the amount is rounded to the nearest integer. In 2000, the 10 Kč and 20 Kč coins were minted with different obverses to commemorate the

millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

. In 1993 and 1994, coins were minted in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, then in the Czech Republic. The 10 Kč and 50 Kč coins were designed by (1934–2007). Since 1997, sets for collectors are also issued yearly with proof-quality coins. Also, a tradition exists of issuing commemorative coins – including silver and gold coins – for numismatic purposes. For a complete listing, see

Commemorative coins of the Czech Republic The Czech National Bank issues 200 / 500 Koruna (Kč) silver commemorative coins and golden commemorative coins of various denominations. The golden coins are issued in thematic sets – Bohemian crown set, Charles IV set, Ten centuries of archite ...

Current series

Circulating commemorative coins

Banknotes

The first Czech banknotes were issued on 8 February 1993 and consisted of Czechoslovak notes with adhesive stamps affixed to them. Only the 100 Kčs, 500 Kčs and 1,000 Kčs notes were overstamped, the lower denominations circulated unchanged during this transitional period. Each stamp bears a Roman and Arabic numeral identifying the denomination of the banknote to which it is affixed (C and 100, D and 500, M and 1,000). Subsequent issues of the 1,000 Kč note replaced the adhesive stamp with a printed image of same. A newly designed series of banknotes in denominations of 20 Kč, 50 Kč, 100 Kč, 200 Kč, 500 Kč, 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč were introduced later in 1993 and are still in use at present – except for 20 Kč, 50 Kč and the first versions of 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč notes, since the security features of 1,000 Kč and 5,000 Kč notes were upgraded in the subsequent issues (The 2,000 Kč note, which was introduced in 1996, is still valid in all versions, with and without the new security features). These banknotes, designed by Oldřich Kulhánek, feature renowned Czech persons on the obverse and abstract compositions on the reverse. Modern protective elements can be found on all banknotes. In 2007, the Czech National Bank started issuing new upgraded banknotes with upgraded security features. These include a new colour-shifting security thread, additional watermarks and EURion constellations. The first denomination to be issued with the new features was the 2,000 Kč, followed by the 1,000 Kč in 2008, the 500 Kč and 5,000 Kč in 2009 and finally ending with the issuance of the 100 Kč and 200 Kč notes in 2018. In practice, the 5000 Kč is not commonly found in circulation due to them being prone to misuse or illicit activity (e.g.,

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

). As of December 2024, there were 25 million of those banknotes in circulation. In contrast, the next-highest denomination, the 2000 Kč, is the most widely circulated banknote in the country, with about 200 million in circulation.

Stamped series

First series

Upgraded series

Commemorative series

Exchange rates

Historic rates

The currency had a record

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

run in 2008.

Current rates

References

External links

Czech banknotes
Czech National Bank
Czech coins
Czech National Bank
Czech banknotes (catalog, gallery and other details, history)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Czech koruna Currencies of the Czech Republic Currencies introduced in 1993 Currency symbols Circulating currencies Currencies of Europe Crown (currency)