The euro has been a feature of the financial landscape since Jan 1, 1999, when the majority of EU members abolished their national currencies in order to adopt a common currency, the euro. The old banknotes and coins could not be replaced overnight, and will still be used until early 2002.
On Jan 1, 2002, however, the euro will become a physical reality across Europe when European consumers and tourists alike will replace their notes and coins with the euro. The Austrian schilling, along with the German mark or Italian lira, and other national currencies will enter history. The greater part of Europe will only have one legal tender left: the euro.
The design of the euro was born in Austria. Back in 1996 Robert Kalina, an engraver at the Austrian Mint, won a public competition to create the banknotes for over 300 million Europeans.
The central motif of the euro is the bridge -- not a real one, such as not to favor any European city or state, but one combined of different famous European bridges.
The bridge symbolizes the link between the different countries of Europe, which have pledged to unite economically and politically, yet maintain their rich cultural diversity.
The euro notes are a crash course in art history, as the International Herald Tribune put it recently in an article, showing seven periods of European architecture: Classical for euro note, Romanesque for the 10, Gothic for the 20, Renaissance for the 50m, Baroque/Rococo for the 100, iron and glass architecture for the 200, and lglassy Modernism for the 500.
The euro coins exemplify this "diversity within unity" in a tangible way: while the front side of the euro coins will be identical throughout the 12 country "Euro"-zone, the reverse side will show country-specific motifs. All coins are valid in all countries, regardless of their reverse motif.
Austria's euro coins feature historic buildings in our capital Vienna (Secession, Stephansdom, Belvedere), famous Austrians like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or Bertha v. Suttner, the Austrian pacifist and Nobel laureate of 1905 known worldwide for her stance against war, as well as typical plants like Austria's national flower, the Edelweiss (remember the "Sound of Music"?) and the small alpine flower Enzian.
Starting next year, ATMs and banks will dispense euro notes.
If you still have Austrian schillings from prior visits, do not worry.
You will be able to exchange them for euro notes at any bank for a limited time, and at the central bank in Vienna for many years to come; other European countries have similar arrangements.
If you still have banknotes from European countries and you do not intend to travel any time soon, you had better exchange them right now here in Taiwan, or during the first months of next year in any European country because later on the national currencies will only be accepted in their home countries.
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