20 Latu

Latvia's 1992 reissue of the 20 Latu denomination was part of the Bank of Latvia's rapid reconstruction of a sovereign currency system following independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The lats itself had been dormant since Soviet occupation in 1940, making its revival one of the more historically charged currency restorations in post-war European monetary history. Rather than issue a transitional rublis series permanently, Latvia moved aggressively toward full lats convertibility — the 1992 notes were central to that commitment.

Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, Vienna's state printing house, handled production — a logical choice given its long record with central European security printing at a time when Baltic states lacked domestic printing infrastructure capable of meeting anti-counterfeiting standards.