5000 Pesos 2008, Colombia
| in Krause book | Number: 452 |
| Years of issue: | 13.08.2008 |
| Edition: | -- |
| Signatures: | Gerente General: José Darío Uribe Escobar, Gerente Ejecutivo: Geraldo Hernández Correa |
| Serie: | No Serie |
| Specimen of: | 1995 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 140 х 70 |
| 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:
José Asunción Silva.
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is made after this photo of José Asunción Silva.
José Asunción Silva (Jose Asuncion Salustiano Facundo Silva Gomez, 27 November 1865 - 23 May 1896) was a Colombian poet. He is considered one of the founders of Spanish-American Modernism.
Born to a wealthy and educated Bogotá family, Asunción Silva led a comfortable life. When he was just ten years old, he wrote his first poems. In 1882 he traveled through England, Switzerland and France, and in Paris met with other romantic writers, including Stéphane Mallarmé and Gustave Moreau. His trip to Europe would influence his style, as he incorporated many French themes. However, with the death of father and the mounting financial difficulties of his family, Asunción Silva found himself obligated to return to Colombia. Incapable of paying his family's enormous debts, Silva accepted a diplomatic post in Caracas. Once there, he was encouraged by his fellow writers to dedicate himself to his poetry. In 1892, his beloved sister Elvira died. In 1895, Silva's principal work of prose was lost in a shipwreck. He was, nevertheless, persuaded to recreate the novel from memory, but the losses of his sister and the novel took their toll. It is said that Silva committed suicide after a dinner on the evening of 23 May 1896.
On the right side is a flower Cattleya trianae, also known as Flor de Mayo ("May Flower") or "Christmas Orchid" is a plant belonging to the Orchidaceae family. It grows as an epiphytic orchid, with succulent leaves, endemic to Colombia where it was nominated as the National Flower in November 1936. That year, the National Academy of History of Argentina asked the Latin American countries to participate in an exhibition with the representative flowers of each country. The Colombian government gave the botanist Emilio Robledo the task to designate the most representative flowering plant of the country.
The choice of Cattleya trianae was made for two main reasons:
The lip is yellow, blue and red, in the same way as the Colombian flag.
The species was named after the XIX century Colombian botanist Jerónimo Triana.
On the left side, probably, is a glass frog.
The glass frogs (or glassfrogs) are frogs of the amphibian family Centrolenidae (order Anura). While the general background coloration of most glass frogs is primarily lime green, the abdominal skin of some members of this family is translucent. The internal viscera, including the heart, liver, and gastrointestinal tract, are visible through this translucent skin, hence the common name.
Also, on the right side, is a firefly.
All images on banknote represents the poem "One night" ("Una Noche", "Nocturno") by Jose Silva.
The poetry in English:
One night
one night all full of murmurings, of perfumes and music of wings;
one night
in which fantastic fireflies burnt in the humid nuptial shadows,
slowly by my side, pressed altogether close, silent and pale,
as if a presentiment of infinite bitternesses
agitated you unto the most hidden fibers of your being,
along the flowering path which crosses the plain
you walked;
and the full moon
in the infinite and profound blue heavens scattered its white light;
and your shadow,
fine and languid,
and my shadow
projected by the rays of the moon,
upon the sorrowful sands
of the path, joined together;
and they became one,
and they became one,
and they became only one long shadow,
and they became only one long shadow,
and they became only one long shadow….
Tonight
alone; my soul
full of the infinite bitternesses and agonies of your death,
separated from you by time, by the tomb and by distance,
by the infinite blackness
where our voice cannot reach,
silent and alone
along the path I walked…
And the barking of dogs at the moon could be heard,
at the pale moon,
and the chirping
of the frogs…
I felt cold. It was the coldness that in your alcove
your cheeks and your temples and your adored hands possessed
within the snowy whiteness
of the mortuary sheets.
It was the coldness of the sepulcher, it was the ice of death,
it was the coldness of oblivion.
And my shadow,
projected by the rays of the moon,
walked alone,
walked alone,
walked alone along the solitary plain;
and your shadow, svelte and agile,
fine and languid,
as in that warm night of springtime death,
as in that night full of murmurings, of perfumes and music of wings,
approached and walked with mine,
approached and walked with mine,
approached and walked with mine… Oh, the shadows intertwined!
Oh, the corporeal shadows united with the shadows of the souls!
Oh, the seeking shadows in those nights of sorrows and of tears!
Denomination in numeral is in top left corner. Centered are in numeral and in words.
Revers:
The poetry "One night" ("Una Noche", "Nocturno") depicted on the monument with vase.
The poem "Nocturno" ("Nocturnal") was most famous work of José Asunción Silva, published posthumously in 1908. Written in free verse, the poem broke with the more classical mode of Spanish versification and showed many signs of Modernism. The poem itself is written in a response to the death of Asunción Silva's sister, Elivra. The imagery, especially the symbolism of the shadow, evokes a sense of melancholy and sadness.
On both sides are floral patterns. Lower right is the seal of Colombian Bank (represents a female allegory of Colombia).
Denominations in numeral are in top left and lower right corners. Centered in words.
Comments:
Designer: Juan Cárdenas.
Security strip. A microtext "BRC 5000" is repeated along the entire length of the strip.
The entire "Nocturno" poem appears on microtext font on the bill.
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