20 Liri 1986, Malta
| in Krause book | Number: 40 |
| Years of issue: | 17.03.1986 - 18.09.1989 |
| Edition: | -- |
| Signatures: | Gvernatur: Mr. Henry C de Gabriele |
| Serie: | Fourth Series |
| Specimen of: | 17.03.1986 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 159 х 76 |
| Printer: | TDLR (Thomas de la Rue & Company), London |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Allegorical head of Malta - Melita.
Avers:
Agatha Barbara (11 March 1923 - 4 February 2002) was a Maltese politician, having served as a Labour Member of Parliament and Minister, and President of Malta. She was the first female President of Malta.
Barbara was born in Żabbar, Malta, in 1923. Her father worked for the British Navy as a tug master (a skilled pilot of tugboats) and was very poorly paid. Her mother struggled to feed the nine children on her husband's wages. Agatha was the second child and the eldest daughter. She pleaded her parents to send her to school and attended grammar school in Valletta. But the Second World War prevented her from continuing to college. She had to work as an air raid warden and supervised one of the kitchens set up by the British military to feed the population. After the war she became a school teacher and got involved in politics. She became a member of the Malta Labor Party (MLP), was very active in party affairs, became member of the MLP executive committee, headed the party women's branch and founded the Women's Political Movement in Malta.
From 1947, Malta had limited self-government. Voting rights for women were raised by the Women of Malta Association and the Malta Labor Party against loud protests from the Church. The proposal was adopted by a narrow majority. The clashes spurred Barbara to show what women could do, so when people encouraged her, she stood for election in 1947. She became the first and only woman among the 40 MPs, and she was the only woman candidate to successfully contest in ten consecutive elections, until 1982, when she resigned to become President.
Agatha Barbara became known as a warm defender of economic and social reforms. She was Malta's first and until the end of the 1990s only woman cabinet minister. When MLP came to power for the first time in 1955, she was appointed as education minister by Dom Mintoff from 1955 to 1958. She undertook comprehensive reforms: instituted compulsory full-time basic education for all children, established a teacher training college and special schools for the disabled, made secondary school free and provided science classes for both girls and boys. In 1958 relations between the British and the Maltese deteriorated. Protests erupted in the streets and Mintoff resigned. Barbara participated in the demonstrations and was sentenced to 43 days "with hard labor". When Mintoff came to power again in 1971, Agatha Barbara was appointed minister of education again. Now compulsory basic education was extended from the age of 14 to 16, trade and technical schools were established and university fees were abolished. In 1974 she became minister for labor, culture and welfare. She worked to reduce unemployment and improve workers' pay and conditions and industrial relations. She introduced a law on equal pay for women and men, paid maternity leave, a 40-hour working week and retirement and unemployment benefits. She also set up a number of national museums. In 1976 Agatha Barbara became deputy chair of the MLP parliamentary group, but not of the party, and deputy prime minister. For shorter periods she served as deputy for Mintoff.
In 1981 elections led to a constitutional crisis because the National Party (PN) won a majority of the votes, but only got a minority in parliament: 31 seats against 34 for MLP. PN boycotted parliament and organized protests. Nevertheless, Mintoff took power, but instead of becoming minister, Barbara was elected as the first woman president, 59 years old, on 15 February 1982. She was the third President of the Republic. Usually the position was mainly ceremonial, but her task now was to resolve the constitutional crises, and she managed to do this, preventing the situation from evolving into civil war. In 1987 her term expired and she withdrew from politics. Barbara appeared on the old series of monetary notes of Malta. She retired in Żabbar, where she was born, and died in 2002. A monument in her honor was unveiled in Żabbar on 23 April 2006 by the then President of Malta, Dr.Edward Fenech Adami. 
Image of ancient Maltese sailboat "Xambekk" "San Paolo", 1743. The ship was named to commemorate Saint Peter.
Nearby is the map of Malta.
In top left corner is the white dove with olive branch, as a symbol of peace.
In lower right corner are four black horizontal bars for visually impaired.
On left side is the column, decorated by flowered design.
Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners. Centered in words.
Revers:
Auberge de Castille (Maltese: Berġa ta' Kastilja) is an auberge in Valletta, Malta. It was originally built in the 1570s to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Castile, León and Portugal. The present building dates back to the 1740s, when it was completely rebuilt during the magistracy of Manuel Pinto da Fonseca. The new auberge was built in the High Baroque style, and it has been called "probably the finest building in Malta". It now houses the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta.
The auberge is located in Castille Square, close to Saint James Cavalier, the Malta Stock Exchange and the Upper Barrakka Gardens. It is situated at the highest point of Valletta and overlooks Floriana and the Grand Harbour area.
The name Castille (or Kastilja in Maltese) is often used as a metonym to refer to the Prime Minister and his office.
Auberge de Castille was originally built between 1571 and 1574 to house the Langue of Castile, León and Portugal, one of the most powerful langues of the Order. The building was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, and it was regarded as the most innovative of his Auberge designs.
The Auberge was completely rebuilt from 1741 to 1745, during the grandmastership of Manuel Pinto da Fonseca to a Baroque design by another Maltese architect, Andrea Belli. The coats of arms of Castile and León and of Portugal, along with Pinto's personal coat of arms were sculpted on the facade of the building at this point. A bust of Pinto was also added.
When the French occupation of Malta began, the knights were expelled from the Maltese islands. The Spanish knights moved out of Auberge de Castille with their movable property on 20 June 1798. Later that year, the Auberge was used as the Commission for National Property.
The Auberge then became the headquarters for the British armed forces in Malta in 1805. In 1814, a disabled contingent from the army of Egypt was accommodated in the Auberge. A Protestant chapel was opened in one of the rooms of the first floor in 1840. In 1889 a signalling station with a large aerial was installed on the roof to communicate with warships of the Mediterranean Fleet moored in the Grand Harbour. The building was included on the Antiquities List of 1925 together with the other auberges in Valletta. In World War II, the Auberge was bombed and sustained severe damage on the right side of the entrance. After the war, the damaged section was rebuilt and the aerial was removed.
The Office of the Prime Minister was moved from Auberge d'Aragon to Auberge de Castille on 4 March 1972. In this building the Prime Minister leads the business of the government and every Tuesday he convenes his cabinet of ministers here.
Over the years, some of the stonework began to crumble and the facades were blackened. Restoration of the Auberge started in 2009 and was completed in mid-2014.
The auberge is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
The monument dedicated to workers in Msida, Malta.
In the center of Msida (pronounced Imsida), near the Maltese capital Valletta, is the Workers Memorial. The monument was erected to the birthday of the General Workers Union. The General Workers Union, founded in 1943 is one of the oldest and richest members associations of the small island nation.
The bronze monument was designed by the Maltese artist Anton Agius, whose sculptures can be found all over the island. It presents as a typical working class family. Noteworthy are the rubber boots on the feet of the workers. Although, Malta is one of the most arid countries in the world, it comes during the short rainy season, in winter, in Msida regularly floods, when the water flows from the higher areas of the city to the sea.
Maltese coat of arms is in top right corner.
This coat of arms was adopted on the 11 July 1975, seven months after Malta became a republic. It showed a coastal scene with the rising sun, a traditional Maltese boat, a shovel and a pitchfork, and an Opuntia. All of these symbols are somewhat connected to Malta. Underneath the image the then new name of the state "Repubblika Ta' Malta" (Republic of Malta) was written. This coat of arms was controversial and it was replaced by the current coat of arms soon after the Nationalist Party won the 1987 election.
A dgħajsa (pronounced dysa in Maltese) is a traditional water taxi from Malta. The design of the Dghajsa, like that of another Maltese boat, the luzzu, is believed to date back at least to the Phoenician times. It was mainly used in the area of the Grand Harbour, to carry passengers and small baggage from ships to shore. It was usually propelled by one man standing, facing forward, and pushing on two oars. The high stem and stern pieces seem to be mainly ornamental but they are useful in handling the boat and in the boarding and disembarking of passengers. The decorative symbols vary from boat to boat. Nowadays Dghajjes are no longer used as water taxis but as tourist attractions. They are sometimes motorized with diesel engines. The Dghajsa is one of the symbols of Malta and it appeared on the coat of arms of Malta from 1975 to 1988.
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus, is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae. They are found in the Mediterranean region of Northern Africa, especially in the most northern nation of Africa, Tunisia, where they grow all over the countryside, and southern Europe, especially on the island nation of Malta, where they grow all over the islands, in the south-east of Spain, and can be found in enormous numbers in parts of South Africa, where it was introduced from South America. On the island of Malta, from the fruit of the paddle cactus, is the liqueur produced (Ambrosia Bajtra 21% vol.), which is the national alcoholic beverage.
Pitchfork and shovel on the shore are the symbol of agriculture.
The eye of god Osiris, painted on the bow, has a particular importance. It is considered here as a symbol of happiness.
Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners. Centered in words.
Comments:
On 17 March 1986, the Central Bank issued a new set of four notes -namely Lm2, Lm5, Lm10, Lm20 called the CBM 4th series. This issue marked the appearance of the Lm20 and the Lm2 note. The Lm1 note was replaced in 1986 by a coin. For the first time the notes included a portrait of the President of the Republic as Head of State.
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