The National Bank of Georgia starts issuing revised 5- and 20-lari bank notes dated 2021 on July 2. The new issues are of the same design as the prior issue, which will continue to circulate, but the background patterns on each are slightly modified.

The brown 5-lari note has a portrait of Georgian author, historian, and linguist Ivane Javakhishvili and the main building of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University on the face, and a back showing the Georgian coat of arms and sections from the early 20th century painter Niko Pirosmani’s paintings, Threshing and Fisherman in a Red Shirt.

The 20-lari note is magenta in color. The face has a portrait of Ilia Chavchavadze with his publishing house in the background, the magazines Sakartvelos Moambe and Iveria, founded by him, and some personal belongings — a magnifying glass, watch, pen, and ink pot. The back, in addition to the coat of arms, has a sculpture of King Vakhtang I Gorgasali, founder of the city of Tbilisi, Vakhushti Bagrationi’s 18th century map of Tbilisi, and a panorama of old Tbilisi and the Narikala fortress.

Vakhtang I reigned as king of Georgia in the late fifth and early sixth centuries. He is noted for establishing the independence of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

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