100 Euro

The first-series euro notes (the "ES1" or "First Series") launched in January 2002 with one of the largest simultaneous currency introductions in history — twelve countries withdrawing their national currencies within a matter of weeks. Robert Kalina, an Austrian designer at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, won the design competition in 1996; his brief required architectural imagery generic enough to offend no member state, which is why the bridges and windows depict no real structures.

Production was distributed across multiple Eurosystem printers, each identifiable by a single letter in the serial prefix. The 100-euro note of this series was withdrawn from circulation in 2019 when the Europa Series replacement entered full distribution.