The European Central Bank released a shortlist of ten potential designs for a new series of printed banknotes, the first complete redesign since the Euro note was issued in 2002.

One of the design proposals European Central Bank

The Euro banknote is getting a fresh look, and Europeans have the chance to influence it through a public voting campaign.

People have ten bill designs to choose from that draw on two different options for motifs. While old Euros bear images of historic architecture, the new Euros will feature either birds or cultural icons like Ludwig van Beethoven and Marie Curie.

“Euro banknotes are more than a means of payment—they are one of the most tangible expressions of Europe,” says Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), in a statement. “Through designs that combine beauty and meaning, they will reinforce our shared identity.”

A bird design proposal European Central Bank

At the unveiling of the shortlist, Lagarde said the ECB narrowed down possible themes through a different public survey in 2023. More than 365,000 Europeans gave their opinions, and “out of that consultation, which included many themes, I can assure you, two themes emerged.” They were “rivers and birds” and “European culture.”

“Designers have worked to bring these themes to life,” Lagarde said. Last summer, the ECB called for submissions from graphic designers all over the European Union—netting more than 1,200 proposals. A jury selected 25 artists, who created the shortlisted designs.

“And now we are turning it back over to you,” Lagarde said at the unveiling, “asking you to have your say on the proposed designs, five from each theme.”

A culture design proposal European Central Bank

Six iconic figures are included in the “European culture” theme. On the €5 bill is 20th-century Greek soprano Maria Callas, the American-born opera singer who became known as “La Divina,” or “the Divine One.” The €10 note stars Germany’s Ninth Symphony-composer Beethoven. The €20 bill shows Curie, the Nobel Prize-winning Polish scientist who helped discover radium and polonium in the 1890s. On the €50 banknote is Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish author who wrote Don Quixote in the early 1600s. Italian Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci is featured on the €100 note. Lastly, the €200 bill stars Bertha von Suttner, the Austrian author of 1889’s Lay Down Your Arms, who championed the creation of the Nobel Peace Prize—and won one.

“The portraits move beyond individual identity toward a shared human capacity for cultural production,” reads the ECB’s description of one “European culture” design. “On the reverse, contemporary cultural spaces show people of different backgrounds and ages meeting and interacting.”

The “birds and rivers” theme features six species in natural European settings. The €5 bill shows a scarlet wallcreeper in the mountains; the €10, a kingfisher by a waterfall; the €20, a flock of bee-eaters; and the €50, a white stork “flying over a meandering river in an unconfined river valley.” The €100 bill boasts an avocet traversing a mudflat, and the €200 note depicts a Northern gannet “flying over big ocean waves.”

“As a true messenger, the bird—appearing alone on the front [of the bills] and as a group on the back—symbolizes the dialogue and interdependence between our societies and nature,” reads the ECB’s description of a bird-themed design.

The public has until mid-September to weigh in. The next few years will see the new Euro notes slowly enter circulation, joining the old ones, which will retain their value. This will be the first complete redesign of the banknotes since the Euro was first issued in 2002.

Some people have taken to social media with their opinions. The bird-centric designs seem popular among Facebook users, a number of whom called the proposed notes “beautiful,” “fantastic” and “simple.” Others lament the narrow scope of nationalities among the chosen cultural icons, and some question whether printing new notes is necessary.

The redesign is aimed in part at keeping cash a secure means of payment, per the statement.

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