New-look 5,000 and 500 ruble notes, which started rolling of the printing press on Tuesday, correct an earlier historical blunder as well as reinforce protection against forgeries.
One of the most highly circulated notes in Russia, the 500 ruble note has on its back a view of Solovetsky Monastery, a highly revered place in Russian orthodoxy.
However, closer inspection of the earlier version reveals that the image shows the monastery buildings at a time when they served as the biggest labor camp for political prisoners in the 1920s USSR.
Ruined monastery
Apparently the banknote’s artist used a photo of the buildings from 1960s, as the monastery is depicted minus domes on its churches, which were removed before it was used as the notorious SLON labor camp.
The bell-tower on the old banknote has a cross on top. However, the cross was taken off in 1922, and by the time it was restored in 1992, the tower had been completely changed in appearance. The tower depicted on the old note would have had a five-point star on top, but the note’s designer must have decided to simply swap it with a cross.
The new note corrects these mistakes and now shows the church with its traditional onion domes.
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