20 Years of Euro Money: Bundesbank Travel Exhibition Shows

Euro Cash celebrates its 20th birthday – and the Bundesbank commemorates the beginning of the common currency with a travel exhibition.

Frankfurt / Main – Euro Cash celebrates its 20th birthday – and Bundesbank commemorates the beginning of the common currency with a travel exhibition. The exhibition, housed in a glass-steel cube and now on display in Frankfurt, is a reminder of the events of the early years of 2001/2002, with large and small exhibits, explanatory texts and contemporary documents. “It’s important for us to celebrate the euro as a European project 20 years after the money was introduced,” Bundesbank board member Johannes Beerman said on Monday. “I’m sure people are interested in the subject.” Exhibitions will be held in Frankfurt until January 2. After that, the travel show will run for four weeks in Dൽsseldorf, Hanover, Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig.

At the beginning of the year 2001/2002, Euro Banknotes and coins were introduced to the people of twelve European countries. It is the official way to pay 340 million people in 19 EU countries. The history of the European Common Currency goes back a few years: on January 1, 1999, the euro became the legal tender for 11 of the then 15 EU member states – initially only electronically. Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Spain were all there from the beginning. Greece was annexed in 2001. (DPA)