100 Latu 2007, Latvia
| in Krause book | Number: 57 |
| Years of issue: | 21.05.2007 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Bank Governor: Ilmārs Rimšēvičs |
| Serie: | 1992 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1992 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 130 x 65 |
| Printer: | Giesecke und Devrient GmbH, Muenchen |
* 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:
Latvian girl in national headdress. Allegory of Latvia.
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is made after this photo of Krišjānis Barons by Mārtiņš Lapiņš, made approx. in 1920.
Krišjānis Barons (October 31, 1835 in Strutele, Jaunpils parish, Latvia – March 8, 1923 in Riga) is known as the "father of the dainas" (Latvian: "Dainu tēvs") thanks largely to his systematization of the Latvian folk songs and his labour in preparing their texts for publication in Latvju dainas. His portrait appeared on the 100-lat banknote prior to the Lat being replaced by the Euro in 2014, his being the only human face of an actual person on modern Latvian currency. Barons was very prominent among the Young Latvians, and also an important writer and editor.
Barons is well known as the creator of Latvju dainas (LD), published between 1894 and 1915 in six volumes, and including 217 996 folk songs. But Barons was not the author of the original idea, neither did he collect the texts, nor rewrite all of the received texts on the tiny paper slips of the famous Cabinet of Folksongs ("Dainu skapis"), though there is a significant number of the slips displaying Barons' own handwriting, as some may believe. Still his contribution is of no less importance. He elaborated the classification system of LD, arranging the texts and introducing the notion of song type or bush (choosing a text as the main one among a number of similar ones, and grouping the rest around it – this allows for easier perception of variation and saves space in the published edition, as only the differences are indicated in print). Barons had also edited some texts, in order to restore their possible older and better form. In recognition of the Barons' labors and the historical value of the Dainu skapis, the work was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2001.
Already at the time when Barons was working on the edition, the traditional singing had been lost to a great extent; Barons in his introduction to LD mentions that "the sources of nation's memory, as it seemed, filled up and having run dry long ago, started to flow amazingly." He also warns that "the old ladies, our purest source of folk songs, become more and more rare with each day". Barons also points at the Latvians themselves turning away from the singing of traditional songs when accepting Christianity for example.
On the title page of LD, Krišjānis Barons is not the only publisher indicated. Besides his name there is also that of Henrijs Visendorfs (1861–1916). Barons, in the same introduction to LD, wrote: "Then in the month of January 1892 I was surprised by a kind letter from St. Petersburg, from Mr. Wissendorff, in which he offered his support for the publication of the edition. We soon achieved our agreement on this." Visendorfs was a well-to-do Latvian merchant, with his own office at the famous St. Petersburg Gostinnij Dvor. He had gotten interested in Latvian culture before, supporting researchers and editions, and writing about Latvian mythology himself (although these writings were not met with enthusiasm by the academic scholars). Visendorfs later provided Barons with copies of collections from the Jelgava Latvian Society Department of Literature.
By the publication of Volume 1 of LD, he had submitted to Barons 12,800 song texts, acquired "with the help of local collectors"; altogether his collection contains 28 406 texts. It is likely that based on the popular idea of that time, that of the Latvian-Lithuanian great nation, he suggested to Barons the word "daina", which is actually Lithuanian, and which became the title of the edition. The first volume was published in Jelgava, funded by Visendorfs himself. But it turned out to be rather costly, and Visendorfs, using his connections, organised the publication of the other volumes with the help of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. In 1900 it was officially settled and from 1903 till 1915 the other volumes were published. These volumes, in addition to the previous two title pages in different languages (Latvian and French), received one more in Russian. Although Visendorfs took no part in editing and arranging the texts, his contribution performing organisational tasks, reading the preprints of the volumes published in St. Petersburg and providing his advice was significant enough to earn a place for his name on the title page, although Prof. Peteris Smits objected to it.
In 1893 Krisjanis Barons returned to Latvia with his Cabinet of Folksongs, at that time containing around 150,000 texts. The index to LD shows more than 900 contributors, among them 237 male informants, 137 female informants, while of collectors only 54 are laies, at least 150 were school teachers, 50 were men of letters and 20 were priests. Barons, without exact account, indicates the total number of texts used to be 217 996; this number is usually quoted as that of the songs published. Still, as LD was created based on collection by local people, it doesn't cover comprehensively the whole territory of Latvia. 218 Latvian civil parishes were not represented, not even with a single text. To collect from the mute parishes, 30 years after publication of LD was started, Latviesu folkloras kratuve began its activities.
Whatever the other editions there are and will be in the future, LD has become the most quoted and referred to, as testified by two repeated editions – in 1922–1923 and 1989–1994. 
More on banknote - stylized oak leaves, that are visible to the light, superimposed on a decorative background.
To the left of the 2007 banknote, a vertical translucent strip is embedded in the obverse of the portrait banknote, which covers the pen and the overhead tab in the upper third of the banknote, which shows a red half-globe on a bright background, with a shaded inscription in four rows with a dark background "Ls". Between the cross-mark and the viewing box is a silver-plated sun globe.
Banknotes of 2007 Issue have two par value 100 Ls, embedded above. In the upper part of the banknote a bicolor inscription LATVIJAS BANKAS NAUDAS ZIME (Money Bank of Latvia), under which the serial number of the banknote is inscribed in black.
At the bottom of the banknote are the inscriptions SIMT LATU (one hundred lats) in two-color printing, LATVIJAS BANKA (Bank of Latvia), facsimile signature of Governor of the Bank of Latvia, and the serial number of the banknote in black.
On the right side of the note is a vertical decorative strip, which is created based on Lielvarde belt and numeral 100. In the upper left part of the banknote are two red dots relief (Braille), arranged diagonally on white background over a watermark. Under watermark the numeral 100, consisting of microprinted "Ls 100", superimposed on the ranges that contain inscriptions LATVIJAS BANKA (Bank of Latvia). The number 100 on the banknotes of 2007 Issue in a special print, which produces an optical effect - changes the color depending on the viewing angle. Horizontally, a thick line includes horizontal rows and vertical scroll, on which, in the relief pattern, repeatedly four numerals 100 in different colors.
On right side is Latvian national ornament, taken after Lielvarde Belt.
The Lielvārde belt is regarded as an outstanding example of a hand-woven adornment, a two-colored (red, white), patterned combination with the middle or the edges interwoven with a green or, more rarely, blue or purple thread, and with a variable motif (geometric pattern). Historically, its geographic distribution was Jumprava, Kastrāne, Krape, Laubere, Lēdmane, Lielvārde, Madliena, Meņģele, and Rembate parishes. Although traditional belts from elsewhere in the country stand out with their rich ornamentation, only the Lielvārde belt has become the basis for a modern myth of the belt’s very ancient origins, the cosmic code that is written into it, and its special powers of protection. In Latvian contemporary culture, the Lielvārde belt leads its own independent, symbolic existence in people’s consciousness and its motifs are often used in contemporary culture.
This independent life began with director Ansis Epners’s documentary "Lielvārdes josta" (The Lielvārde Belt; 1980) whose script was written by Estonian graphic artist Tenu Vint. Comparing the Lielvārde belt ornamentation with other national and cultural patterns, Vint raised the hypothesis that this belt had preserved the information code of an ancient civilization; that the story of the universe was inscribed therein. A German mystic and healer by the name of Dina Ries, encouraged by Latvian Rasma Rozīte, "read" the belt’s ancient information in 1986. The Lielvārde belt was one of the most powerful symbols in the years of Latvian national awakening movement in the late 1980s and has not lost its importance even today.
The information that ornamented belts in antiquity were not used only as a personal adornment but also served to protect the wearer is found in a number of traditions, although that does not necessarily mean that the Lielvārde belt must have been a part of, for instance, a priest’s clothing. The scenario for the origins of the Universe read into the belt; the belt as a meditative system; as a yet untested piece of knowledge of the Universe may or may not be true: much will depend on what and how we want to see. One thing is more or less clear, however: it is the Lielvārde belt that possesses a mythical power far beyond that of other belts and it is not because of the technology used in making it or because of its complicated patterns or beautiful colors, but because of its powerful symbolism.
The base of ornament consist if traditional squares, which named Māras krusts (The cross of Mara, also the cross of crosses).
The symbol of perfection and fertility. Mara is a protector of health, custodian of women and supplier of bread. Protects against evil spirits. (Māras zīme latv.)
Revers:
The composition of the Lielvārde belts.
On the left there is a vertical metallic band with a hologram "Ls" in the paper and a denomination "Ls 100" denomination, on the right - a stylized oak leaf. At the top, the inscription SIMT LATU (two-color imprint) and the number 100. In the lower part there is a number 100 and the inscription LATVIJAS BANKAS NAUDAS ZĪME (two-color imprint). From the article compilation to the left is a vertical bar with inclination of local numbers 100 and diagonal tone transitions. Above the border on a white background, the vertical inscription © LATVIJAS BANKA 1992. On the right-hand side of the banknote on a white background, a graphic representation of the great Latvian national emblem, below it, the year 2007. Above the coat of arms is a watermark.
The image of the golden rising sun with 11 wide wavy rays, between which there were 10 narrow wavy rays, was also placed in the azure upper half of the shield of the State Emblem of the Republic of Latvia, approved on June 16, 1921 by the Constitutional (Constituent) Assembly of Latvia, the draft of which was created by the returnee from Petrograd by the graphic artist Rihards Germanovich Zariņš, together with Vilis Krūmiņš, (the artist himself signed "Zarrinsh" in Russian, Rihards Zariņš, 1869-1939), who until 1917 held the position of technical and artistic director of the Expedition of Preparing State Papers (EZGB ) Of the Russian Empire and the Provisional Government (according to his projects, banknotes and postage stamps of the All-Russian Provisional Government were issued in 1905-1917).
The lower half of the shield of the Latvian coat of arms was cut, in the right silver field was depicted a wormy rebellious lion from the historical coat of arms of Courland and Semigale, symbolizing Kurzeme and Zemgale, and a silver griffin from the historical coat of arms of Livonia, symbolizing Vidzeme and Latgale.
Above the shield, three golden five-pointed stars were depicted in an arc of a circle, touching each other with two rays, symbolizing the unity of the three historical parts of Latvia - Kurzeme and Zemgale, Vidzeme and Latgale. (www.heraldicum.ru .ru)
Comments:
Designers: silkscreen specialist Valdis Ošiņš and architect Imants Žodžiks.
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