Since 1867 there have been four successive currencies in Romania known as the leu (plural lei ). This article details the banknotes denominated in the leu and its subdivision the ban since 1917, with images.
Banknotes of the first leu (ROL)
1877 issue
1877 Bilet Hypothecar Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
withdrawal
5 L
Blue
1877
12 June 1877
June 1889 [ 1]
10 L
20 L
50 L
100 L
500 L
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
1909–1916 issue
1909–1916 Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
1 L
2 L
5 L
20 L
100 L
500 L
1000 L
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
German occupation WWI issue
1917 German Occupation Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
withdrawal
25 b
1917
1917
50 b
1 L
2 L
5 L
20 L
100 L
1000 L
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
1917 issue ("paper coins")
Issued in Iași , during World War I by the Ministry of Finance , as war money. The banknotes represent the ban (pl. bani ).
1920 issue
1920 Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
1 L
78 × 55
blue
industrial landscape, value, maid
Coat of arms , Capitoline Wolf , Decebal , Trajan
1920
17 July 1920
2 L
104 × 68
blue
maid, value, vulture
Coat of arms , two Romanian soldiers
5 L
133 × 81
blue, red, violet
Coat of arms , value, peasant lady spinning wool
maid and child in a loom, value
25 March 1920
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
1934–1947 issue
The 5,000, 10,000, 100,000 (1946), 1,000,000, and 5,000,000 lei banknotes from the 1943–1947 series had the left edge wavy.
1922–1947 Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of printing and issue
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
Watermark
500 L
157 × 86
brown
Romanian peasant women, the small coat of arms , value
Peleș Castle
continuous rows BNR
1934–1942
1,000 L
183 × 104
brown, green
Romanian peasant women, value
Romanian peasant women
King Carol II
1936–1940
green, purple
Nerva Traian
1941–1945
2,000 L
201 × 113
brown
Romanian peasant women, value
Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms , industrial landscape, Peleș Castle (in the background)
Nerva Traian
1941
continuous rows BNR
1943–1945
5,000 L
166 × 91
blue
Decebal , Nerva Traian , the middle coat of arms ,
industrial, urban and rural landscape
Nerva Traian
1943
continuous rows BNR
1945
10,000 L
194 × 107
brown, pink
Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms , value
Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms
continuous rows BNR
1945–1946
100,000 L
187 × 90
blue, green
Romanian peasant women, value
Romanian peasant women, value
continuous rows BNR
1946
100,000 L
182 × 88
pink, orange
Decebal , Nerva Traian , value
Romanian peasants, the middle coat of arms , value
continuous rows BNR
1947
1,000,000 L
190 × 90
green, blue
Decebal , Nerva Traian , value
Romanian peasants, the middle coat of arms , value
continuous rows BNR
1947
5,000,000 L
205x105
yellow, brown
Capitoline Wolf , value
Romanian peasants, value
1947
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
Red Army 1944 issue
1944 Red Army Occupation Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
withdrawal
5 L
115 x 60 mm
Blue
1944
1944
1 October 1944
10 L
160 x 80 mm
Brown
20 L
170 x 85 mm
Blue
100 L
186 x 100 mm
Brown-olive
500 L
195 x 104 mm
Brown
1000 L
200 x 105 mm
Red
5000 L
205 x 102 mm
Blue
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
Banknotes of the second leu
Kingdom of Romania
1947 Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
issue
withdrawal
lapse
20 L
Trajan and Decebal
15 August 1947
30 January 1952
1 February 1952
100 L
Brown
three workers holding a hammer, a bunch of wheat and a torch
"Romania"
500 L
brown
Romanian peasant woman
1000 L
Lesser coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania , replaced since 1948 by the coat of arms of the People's Republic of Romania
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
People's Republic of Romania
1948 Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
issue
withdrawal
lapse
20 L
× mm
Brown, green
maiden
Coat of arms
15 October 1948
30 January 1952
1 February 1952
500 L
Red
Horea, Cloșca and Crișan
Factory
1000 L
Blue
Nicolae Bălcescu
River natural scene
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
Banknotes of the third leu (ROL)
1952 issue
1952 Series
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
withdrawal
1 L
118 × 57 mm
Brown, yellow
Value
Coat of arms
January 1952
28 January 1952
16 April 1970
3 L
122 × 61 mm
Dark brown, green
Value
Coat of arms
5 L
122 × 65 mm
Dark blue, yellow
Maid
Dam construction scene
10 L
135 × 73 mm
Red, green
Furnace worker
Quarry scene
25 L
148 × 80 mm
Dark brown, violet
Tudor Vladimirescu
Harvesting scene
100 L
168 × 90 mm
Blue
Nicolae Bălcescu
Casa Scânteii
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
1966 issue
1991–1992 issue
1992–1994 issue
1996–2000 issue
1996 Series - paper
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
withdrawal
lapse
1,000 L
140 × 61 mm
Blue
Mihai Eminescu
Ruins of Histria , Linden tree flowers
1998
1 June 1998
17 December 2001
1 February 2002
5,000 L
145 × 64 mm
Orange
Lucian Blaga
Crucifix
17 June 2002
1 October 2002
10,000 L
150 × 67 mm
Green
Nicolae Iorga , Milkweed gentian
Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș
1999
15 July 1999
16 December 2002
1 July 2003
50,000 L
155 × 70 mm
Violet
George Enescu , Carnation , irregular shape with safety feature
The Sphinx of Bucegi Mountains, musical chord from "Oedip King "
1996
20 November 1996
George Enescu , Carnation , shape of a violin
2000
6 March 2000
1 June 2004
1 January 2005
100,000 L
160 × 73 mm
Red
Nicolae Grigorescu , Marshmallow
traditional house from Oltenia , scene from the "Rodica" painting
1998
1 June 1998
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
1999–2003 issue
1999 Series - polymer
Image
Value
Dimensions
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Obverse
Reverse
printing
issue
withdrawal
lapse
2,000 L
143 × 63 mm
Blue, yellow, red
Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999
Map of Romania
1999
2 August 1999
30 November 2004
31 March 2005
10,000 L
150 × 67 mm
Green
Nicolae Iorga , Milkweed gentian
Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș
2000
18 September 2000
1 January 2007
Indefinite
50,000 L
155 × 70 mm
Violet
George Enescu , Carnation
Romanian Athenaeum , musical chord from "Oedip King "
2001
14 December 2001
100,000 L
160 × 73 mm
Orange, light red
Nicolae Grigorescu , Marshmallow
traditional house from Oltenia , scene from the "Rodica" painting
12 November 2001
500,000 L
165 × 76 mm
Yellow
Aurel Vlaicu , Edelweiss
Vlaicu II airplane design
2000
23 October 2000
1,000,000 L
168 × 78 mm
Blue
Ion Luca Caragiale , Sweet violet
National Theatre of Bucharest (old building)
2003
5 December 2003
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
A 500 lei coin and the 2,000 lei note shown above were made in order to celebrate the 1999 total solar eclipse. Whereas the 500 lei coin is currently very rare, becoming a prized collector's item, the 2,000 lei note was quite popular, being taken out of circulation in 2004 (a long time after the 1,000 and 5,000 lei bills were replaced by coins).
Banknotes of the fourth leu (RON)
The leu notes issued on 1 July 2005 are of equal size to euro banknotes , so that machines will need less refitting once Romania joins the euro zone. This decision was taken after a lot of debate, and with some opposition, the initial decision being to make them even smaller, similar to the 1966 series. The old leu notes were rather long and fairly uncomfortable to carry.
The design of the notes follows some common guidelines: the obverse shows a flower native to Romania and the portrait of a Romanian cultural personality; the reverse shows a building or a well-known monument. All banknotes are printed on plastic polymer , each in its own colour theme (light green for 1 leu, light purple for 5 lei, light pink and light orange for 10 lei, yellow for 50 lei, blue for 100 lei, dark orange for 200 lei, and light gray for 500 lei). On 14 November 2008 the National Bank of Romania announced the issue of a redesigned 10 lei banknote. The new design employs offset printing in favor of the intaglio printing used in the 2005 series. Also the transparent window will undergo a shape redesign.[ 2]
Each banknote also features a small transparent window, in the shape of a distinctive item characterising the activity of the pictured personality, a heraldic symbol for Nicolae Iorga , a music key for George Enescu , painting implements for Nicolae Grigorescu , an eagle for flying pioneer Aurel Vlaicu , theater masks for Ion Luca Caragiale , a pen point for Lucian Blaga and an hourglass symbolising poetry and time for Mihai Eminescu . Each banknote has a different texture, to be easily recognised in the pocket or by those with visual impairments.
Note that the 500 lei banknotes see limited usage since they are not dispensed by automated teller machines .
On 21 December 2017, the National Bank of Romania announced that beginning with 1 January 2018, all the banknotes and coins will feature the new version of the coat of arms . All other features (portraits, security etc.) remain unchanged.[ 3] The banknotes will feature the date of issue 1 January 2018, and will be released as demanded. The 1 July 2005, 1 December 2006, and 1 December 2008 issues will continue to be legal tender and circulate in parallel with the revised banknotes.
On 31 July 2019, the National Bank of Romania announced that it planned to issue the 20 lei banknote, which will feature Ecaterina Teodoroiu , in 2020.[ 4] In November 2021 the National Bank of Romania announced that the 20 lei banknote bearing Ecaterina Teodoroiu's portrait would be issued on 1 December 2021.[ 5] [ 6]
2005, 2006, 2008, and 2018 Series
Image
Value
Size
Printing Technique
Main Colour
Description
Date of
Obverse
Reverse
Dimensions
Same size as
Obverse
Reverse
Printing
Issue
1 L
120 × 62 mm
€5
Offset
Green
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
Nicolae Iorga , Milkweed gentian
Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș
2005-2017
1 July 2005
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
5 L
127 × 67 mm
€10
Violet
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
George Enescu , Carnation
Romanian Athenaeum
2005-2017
1 July 2005
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
10 L
133 × 72 mm
€20
Intaglio
Pink and light red
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
Nicolae Grigorescu , Althaea
Traditional house from Oltenia , Nicolae Grigorescu painting Rodica
2005-2007
1 July 2005
Offset
2008-2017
1 December 2008
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
20 L
136 × 77 mm
N/A
Intaglio
Olive green
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
Ecaterina Teodoroiu , Crocus flavus
Mausoleum of Mărășești , Victoria as depicted on the Romanian Victory Medal
2021–present
1 December 2021
50 L
140 × 77 mm
€50
Yellow
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
Aurel Vlaicu , Edelweiss
Vlaicu II airplane design, eagle head
2005-2017
1 July 2005
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
100 L
147 × 82 mm
€100 (1st series)
Blue
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
Ion Luca Caragiale , Sweet violet
National Theatre of Bucharest (old building), Statue of Ion Luca Caragiale , by Constantin Baraschi
2005-2017
1 July 2005
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
200 L
150 × 82 mm
N/A
Brown and orange
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
Lucian Blaga , poppies
A watermill and the Hamangia Thinker
2006-2017
1 December 2006
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
500 L
153 × 82 mm
€200 (1st series)
Blue and violet
Coat of arms of Romania (1992-2016)
Mihai Eminescu , Tilia
Central University Library of Iași
2005-2017
1 July 2005
Coat of arms of Romania (2016–present)
2018–present
1 January 2018
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table .
Commemorative banknotes
References
Topics Coinage Banknotes Former banknotes
10 bani
25 bani
50 bani
2 lei
3 lei
25 lei
1,000 lei
2,000 lei
5,000 lei
10,000 lei
50,000 lei
100,000 lei
500,000 lei
1,000,000 lei
5,000,000 lei
Former coinage