100 Euros Specimen

The entire euro banknote series was designed by a single person — Robert Kalina of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank — who won an internal competition among European central banks in 1996. His winning approach used fictional architectural motifs rather than real buildings, a deliberate political compromise that avoided the impossible task of choosing monuments acceptable to all member states.

Specimens from 2001 represent the first year of physical euro circulation, which began 1 January 2002. The ECB produced specimens for training and reference purposes ahead of the launch, during one of the largest simultaneous cash changeovers ever attempted across twelve nations.