Banknotes of the Romanian leu

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
		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 Iaşi, during World War I by the Ministry of Finance, as war money. The banknotes represent the ban (pl. bani).

1917 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue
		10 b	33 × 44 mm	green	King Ferdinand	Coat of arms		1917
		25 b	39 × 51 mm	green, yellow	King Ferdinand	Coat of arms		1917
		50 b	45 × 60 mm	green, orange	King Ferdinand	Coat of arms		1917

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
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	Peleş 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, Peleş 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
		1000 L			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.

Bankotes 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

1966 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main colour	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue	withdrawal
		1 L	103 × 52 mm	Brown, yellow	Coat of arms	Value	1966	1 November 1966	1 January 1997 (no longer in circulation since 1970-1972)
		3 L	114 × 57 mm	Dark blue	Coat of arms	Value
		5 L	124 × 62 mm	Light brown	Coat of arms	Port			1 January 1997 (no longer in circulation since 1982-1984)
		10 L	131 × 65 mm	Violet	Coat of arms	Harvesting scene			1990-1992
		25 L	140 × 70 mm	Dark green	Tudor Vladimirescu	Factory (Coke ovens of the Hunedoara Steelworks)
		50 L	145 × 72 mm	Green	Alexandru Ioan Cuza	Palace of Culture, Iaşi
		100 L	153 × 75 mm	Blue	Nicolae Bălcescu	Romanian Athenaeum
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

1991–1992 issue

1991 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	withdrawal
		500 L	156 × 74 mm	Brown	Constantin Brâncuși	Constantin Brâncuși	January 1991	1992
							April 1991
		1,000 L	167 × 76 mm	Red, green	Mihai Eminescu	Putna Monastery	September 1991	1 April 1999
		5,000 L	172 × 76 mm	Violet	Avram Iancu	Densuş Church, Dacian Draco, Gate of Alba Iulia Citadel	March 1992
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

1992–1994 issue

1992 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	withdrawal
		200 L	155 × 76 mm	Light brown	Grigore Antipa	Danube Delta	December 1992	1993
		500 L	160 × 76 mm	Green	Constantin Brâncuși	Sculptures by Brâncuși	December 1992	16 December 1999
		1,000 L	167 × 76 mm	Red, green	Mihai Eminescu	Putna Monastery	May 1993	1 April 1999
		5,000 L	172 × 76 mm	Violet	Avram Iancu	Densuş Church, Dacian Draco, Gate of Alba Iulia Citadel	May 1993
		10,000 L	180 × 76 mm	Light red	Nicolae Iorga	Şuţu Palace	February 1994	16 December 2000
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

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 Argeş	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 Argeş	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.

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.

2005 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	Nicolae Iorga, Milkweed gentian	Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş	2005-present	1 July 2005
		5 L	127 × 67 mm	€10		Violet	George Enescu, Carnation	Romanian Athenaeum	2005-present	1 July 2005
		10 L	133 × 72 mm	€20	Intaglio	Pink, light red	Nicolae Grigorescu, Althaea	Traditional house from Oltenia, Nicolae Grigorescu painting Rodica	2005-2007	1 July 2005
					Offset				2008-present	1 December 2008
		50 L	140 × 77 mm	€50	Intaglio	Yellow	Aurel Vlaicu, Edelweiss	Vlaicu II airplane design, eagle head	2005-present	1 July 2005
		100 L	147 × 82 mm	€100		Blue	Ion Luca Caragiale, Sweet violet	National Theatre of Bucharest (old building), Statue of Ion Luca Caragiale, by Constantin Baraschi	2005-present	1 July 2005
		200 L	150 × 82 mm	None		Brown, orange	Lucian Blaga, poppies	A watermill and the Hamangia Thinker	2006-present	1 December 2006
		500 L	153 × 82 mm	€200		Blue, violet	Mihai Eminescu, Tilia	Central University Library of Iaşi	2005-present	1 July 2005
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

References

• The National Bank of Romania
• bancnoteleromanesti.go.ro – All Romanian banknotes from beginning to present.