Ukraine completed the issue of a series of six bank notes commemorating the 30th anniversary of independence on Dec. 22 with issue of 50- and 1,000-hryvnia notes.

The announcement was made by the National Bank of Ukraine and Crane Currency.

The commemorative notes are identical in design to the regular ones in circulation but with the addition the Independence Day emblem that serves as the official logo of the occasion.

Thirty thousand examples of each denomination — 20-, 50-, 100-, 200-, 500-, and 1,000-hryvnia notes — are offered online or through commercial banks. (One hryvnia is the equivalent of 3.7 cents.)

The face of the 75-millimeter by 160-millimeter 1,000-hryvnia note has a portrait of Vladimir Vernadsky, with the back showing the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Vernadsky was a founder and first president of the academy. He is best known today for his research on the “noosphere,” the idea that human consciousness and mental activity affects the biosphere or biological life. 

The 50-hryvnia denomination is smaller, at 72 by 136 millimeters. It displays a portrait of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi on the face, with the building of the Ukrainian Central Rada on the back. It is an appropriate subject in the current political environment. According to Britannica.com, in March 1917, the Central Rada or council, was formed in Kyiv (the preferred Ukrainian spelling, rather than Kiev, the Russian spelling) as a Ukrainian representative body. In April, the All-Ukrainian National Congress declared it to be the highest national authority in Ukraine and elected Hrushevskyi, a historian, as its head. The objective of the Central Rada was territorial autonomy for Ukraine and the transformation of Russia into a democratic, federated republic.

Crane’s announcement concentrated on security elements. The four higher denominations have a micro-optic security feature with three-dimensional effects partially embedded into the paper. When the note is tilted, the pattern moves in opposite directions. The thread is 6 millimeters wide on the 1,000-hryvnia note and 4 millimeters wide on the others.

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