Exhibitions traces history of Albanian banknotes, coins

TIRANA, July 26 – Albania’s central bank has held two exhibitions in the southern UNESCO World Heritage towns of Berat and Gjirokastra displaying banknotes and coins it has issued during its 100-year history.
The exhibition in Berat on July 19 and Gjirokastra on July 26 in the central bank’s branches showcased the history of Albanian banknotes and at the same time the history of the Bank of Albania. Through these travelling exhibitions organized as part of events commemorating Albania’s 100th anniversary of independence, the Bank of Albania targets unveiling the numismatic, historical, and cultural values of Albanian currency notes and coins.
The History of the Bank of Albania and its credit and monetary system in Albania is the history of the attempts preceding the foundation of the National Bank of Albania (1925-1944), the transformation to the State Bank of Albania (1944-1992), to be concluded in 1992 with the Bank of Albania, which enjoys with the attributes of a modern central bank.
Albania had its first central bank institution in 1913, one year after declaring its independence. The circulation of the first Albanian currency unit took place in February 1926. The gold franc was set out as the official monetary unit. The currency had its subdivisions (Lek, cents, 1 gold franc equated to 5 Lek and 100 cents) and its manifolds (5, 20 and 100 gold francs). The Head Office of the Bank of Albania is located in Tirana. It has 5 branches in the districts of Shkodra, Elbasani, Gjirokastra, Kor衬 and Lushnja.