20 Pesos Oro 2003, Dominican Republic
| in Krause book | Number: 169c |
| Years of issue: | 2003 |
| Edition: | 100 000 000 |
| Signatures: | Gobernador del Banco Central: Frank Guerrero Prats, Secretario de Estado de Finanzas : Jose E Lois Malkun |
| Serie: | No Serie |
| Specimen of: | 2001 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 156 x 67 |
| 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
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Avers:
Gregorio Luperón (September 8, 1839 - May 21, 1897), is best known for being a Dominican military and state leader who was the main leader in the restoration of the Dominican Republic after the Spanish annexation in 1863.
Gregorio Luperón was born 8 September 1839 in Puerto Plata to Pedro Castellanos and Nicolasa Luperón. His parents owned a Ventorrillo (small business) that sold homemade foodstuff such as piñonate, a local delicacy made of sweetened pine-nut kernels. Most of these were sold on the street by Gregorio and his siblings in order to help the family livelihood.
Around the age of 14, Gregorio began working for Pedro Eduardo Dubocq, an owner of a major company specializing in wood. While working there, he displayed a strong strength of character and a knack for getting any job assigned to him completed in the best possible fashion. Because of this, Mr. Dubocq promoted Gregorio to a management position. Mr. Dubocq also allowed Gregorio to spend time in his personal library because Gregorio wanted to enrich his intellect.
In 1861, the annexation of the Dominican Republic by Spain took place. Gregorio was only 22 years old at the time but a sense of nationalism began to swell within him. During one instance, Gregorio was arrested but managed to escape and flee to the United States for protection. Shortly thereafter, Gregorio managed to return to the Dominican Republic through the town of Monte Cristi in time to take part in the uprising of Sabaneta (1863). However, this uprising was short-lived due to the quick Spanish response.
After the failure at Sabaneta, Gregorio and his compatriots hid in the mountains of La Vega in order to prepare for a full-scale revolution against the Spanish forces.
Present Day References: The Gregorio Luperón International Airport in Puerto Plata and the Gregorio Luperón High School for Math & Science in New York are named after him. The small peasant city of Luperon, located 50 km west of Puerto Plata, is also named after him. 
Centered are the flowers of a national symbol (from 1957 till 2011) of Dominican Republic, mahogany wood (La Caoba, Swietenia mahagoni). It grows throughout most of Latin America, up to 35-50 meters in height and 1.8 m in diameter. Dense wood with a reddish tinge gave another name - red wood. Resistant to environmental influences, mahogany was the basic material for the manufacture of furniture in the Spanish colonies, which led to the brink of its extinction.
The seal of Dominican Bank and denomination are on the left side.
Denominations are in top and lower right corners.
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The National Pantheon was built from 1714-1746 by the Spaniard Geronimo Quezada y Garçon and was originally a Jesuit church. The structure was constructed in the neoclassic-renaissance style. Today the structure stands as a national symbol of the Dominican Republic and serves as the final resting place of the Republic's most honored citizens.
Jesuits held mass here from 1746-1767. After 1767 it was used as a tobacco warehouse and then as a theater. The theater was the venue for the pro-independence organization La Trinitaria, which staged shows under aliases such as La Filantrópica and La Dramática. From its stages, the ideas were set in motion for a free and sovereign republic by national heroes like Juan Pablo Duarte, Matías Ramón Mella, and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, among others.
In 1956, Spanish architect Javier Borroso renovated the structure to serve its new purpose as a national mausoleum, by order of then dictator Rafael Trujillo. Originally, Trujillo envisioned being interred at the National Pantheon, yet ironically today it is the place where the country's most famous persons are honored, among others Trujillo's assassins.
Other notables that are buried at the National Pantheon include; Francisco Gregorio Billini, Gregorio Luperón, and Eugenio Hostos. Right of center are the Las Caritas ("The faces"). It is a collection of Indian inscriptions in a rock formation looking out over Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic. The place is also called the Trono de Enriquillo ("Enriquillo's throne") because it is said the Taíno leader Enriquillo used to camp here during his rebellion. Denominations are lower left and top right. All banknotes carry the phrase "Este billete tiene fuerza libertoria para el pago de todas las obligaciónes públicas o privadas". Literally translated as "This bill has the liberatory strength to be used as payment for all public or private obligations".
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