Currency of Bulgaria 2 Leva banknote 1999
Bulgarian National Bank - Българска народна банка
An engraving of Pagisios of Chiliandar is the major item on the obverse side. The background depicts the Zografou Monastery on Mount Athos, the Monastery Seal, and the interior of Pagisios' monastic cell.
Pagisios of Chiliandar (1722 - 1773), the man who kindled the spark of the Bulgarian National Revival, served in Holy Orders at the monastery of Chiliandar on Mount Athos. He authored the “Historiae Sclavo-Bulgaricus”: the first work of modern Bulgarian letters and harbinger of Bulgarians' spiritual emancipation and national reawakening.
The reverse side shows a facsimile of the Zografou draft of the of the “Historiae Sclavo-Bulgaricus” with a list of Bulgarian rulers. This is overprinted with impressions of Tsar Kalogiannis Ring Seal and three seals with the images of Bulgarian Sovereigns Mihail Shishman, Svetoslav Terter and Tsar Ivan Asen II. The right side shows Hristofor Zhefarovich's lion rampant with the names of Bulgarian rulers from the First and Second Empires overprinted in microscopic lettering, Bottom right appears Bulgaria's Coat of Arms with three lions couchant, as published in the Gruenberg Heraldic Compendium of 1483.
Technical Characteristics:
Background colour - violet.
Paper - 100% cotton, in blue tones.
Dimensions - 116 x 64 mm.
Security Features:
Anti-copy Stripe - a hologram stripe consisting of rhomboid elements which change their colour when seen from different angles.
Security Thread - a thread incorporated in the banknote paper with initials “БНБ” (BNB) appearing as a negative microprint.
Watermark - a half-tone silhouette of a rampant lion.
Fluorescence - elements of the pattern, serial numbers and fibres in the paper fluoresce under UV light.
Transparent register element - when the banknote is held against the light the digit “2” is seen in a square checkered field.
Microprint on the obverse - to the left of the portrait: the text “ПАИСИЙ ХИЛЕНДАРСКИ” (PAGISIOS OF CHILIANDAR); text “2 ЛЕВА” (2 LEVS) printed within the boundaries of the denomination digit “2”; vertical lines starting from the digit “2”.
Microprint on the reverse - The image of the lion features the names of Bulgarian tsars “ИВАН АЛЕКСАНДЪР МИХАИЛ III ШИШМАН” (IVAN ALEXANDER MIHAIL III SHISHMAN).
The obverse of the banknote features the embossed portrait, the texts “БЪЛГАРСКА НАРОДНА БАНКА”, “ДВА ЛЕВА” (BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK, TWO LEVS), the vignette, and the digit of the denomination “2” on the anti-copy stripe.
Visually impaired aid - two embossed rectangles.
Bulgarian banknotes - Bulgaria paper money
1999-2009 Issue
1 Lev 2 Leva 5 Leva 10 Leva 20 Leva 50 Leva 100 Leva