50 Kroner 1980, Norway
| in Krause book | Number: 37d |
| Years of issue: | 1980 |
| Edition: | 148 320 000 (all years) |
| Signatures: | Direksjonens Formann: Knut Getz Wold (in office 1970-1985), Hovedkasserer: Kare Sagård |
| Serie: | Fifth Series |
| Specimen of: | 1966 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 145 х 73 |
| Printer: | Norges Bank, Oslo (till 2008) |
* 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:
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson. Security thread.
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is, probably, made from this Photograph of Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson. The date and an author of photo are unknown.
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson (8 December 1832 - 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature. Bjørnson is considered to be one of the Four Greats (De Fire Store) among Norwegian writers, the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland. Bjørnson is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet".
In center is Norwegian coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Norway. A golden lion on a red shield was adopted in or before the early part of the 13th century. In the late part of the same century, a silver axe was added. In continuous use since then, the coat of arms is one of the oldest state coats of arms in the world.
The official blazon is: Gules, a lion rampant or, crowned or and bearing an axe with blade argent.
Among the state coats of arms that are still in use today, the Coat of Arms of Norway is among the oldest in Europe and even world-wide. It is known since the early 13th century, when it served as the coat of arms of the kings of the Sverre dynasty. It is told that Sverre, who was King between 1184 and 1202, had a lion in his coat of arms. This coat of arms appears in 1225, when it was used by Earl Skule Bårdsson, who had relations to the royal family. A coat of arms with a lion was also used by Haakon the Young Haakonson, who was King between 1240 and 1257. This was in 1250. Haakon the Young's father, King Haakon the Old Haakonson, had a lion in his seal. This lion, however, does not appear in a coat of arms, but in the shape of a small lion which lies between the King's feet. This might be the same lion that Earl Skule and Haakon the Young used in their seals. On the other hand, lions were a frequently used symbol of kings and royal power.
Snorre Sturlason claims that a golden lion on a red background was used already in 1103 by King Magnus III, the son of King Olav III. In 1894, historian Gustav Storm concluded that this is ahistorical. Storm explained that the claimed lion in King Magnus's coat of arms is unknown both in the older Saga literature and in other contemporary sources. It is possible that Snorre, who wrote under the instruction of the King, attributed King Sverre's coat of arms to earlier Kings of Norway.
Approximately in 1280, either King Magnus VI (dead in 1280) or the guardianship of his son Eric Magnuson let the lion be equipped with a crown of gold and in the foremost paws an axe of silver. The axe was a symbol of Saint Olaf, i.e. King Olaf II, and by inserting it into the coat of arms it was symbolized that the King was the rightful heir and descendant of the "Eternal King of Norway" (Latin: Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae).
Denomination in big words is centered. Lower right are in words and numeral. Top left in numeral. In words - lower left.
Revers:
Borgund Stave Church (Borgund stavkirke, Borgund stavkyrkje) is a stave church located in the village of Borgund in the municipality of Lærdal in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is classified as a triple nave stave church of the so-called Sogn-type. This is also the best preserved of Norway's 28 extant stave churches. The church is part of the Borgund parish in the Indre Sogn deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin, although it is no longer used regularly for church functions, it is now used as a museum and it is run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments.
Borgund Stave Church was built sometime between 1180 and 1250 AD with later additions and restorations. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name "stave church". The four corner posts were connected to one another by ground sills, resting on a stone foundation. The rest of the staves then rise from the ground sills, each stave notched and grooved along the sides so that they lock into one another, forming a sturdy wall.
Borgund is built on a basilica plan, with reduced side aisles, with an added chancel and apse. It has a raised central nave demarcated on four sides by an arcade. An ambulatory runs around this platform and into the chancel and apse, both added in the XIV century. An additional ambulatory, in the form of a porch, runs around the exterior of the building, sheltered under the overhanging shingled roof. The floor plan of this church resembles that of a central plan, double-shelled Greek cross with an apse attached to one end in place of the fourth arm. The entries to the church are in the three arms of the almost-cross.
The ceiling is held up with "scissor beams" or two steeply angled supports crossing each other to form an X shape with a narrow top span and a broader bottom span. The lower ends of the X shape are joined by a bottom truss to prevent the X from collapsing. In the case of Borgund, an additional beam cuts across the X below the crossing point but above the bottom truss, for extra stability. This stabilizes the steeply pitched roof, consisting of horizontal boards covered in shingles. Originally, the roof would have been covered on the outside with boards running lengthwise, like the composition of the roof beneath it, however in later years wooden shingles became more common. Scissor beam roof construction is typical of most stave churches.
Bracing in the form of cross-shaped trusses also appears on the walls of the building itself, diagonal beams running up the walls from the floor to about level with the top of the arcade. Further crossing, this time in a more ornamental sense appears in the cross shaped carvings with medallions in the center, commonly dubbed "Saint Andrew's crosses" which run along the area above the arcade, in the visual "second story" that is not actually a gallery but is located where one is commonly put in large stone churches elsewhere in Europe at this time. Near these smaller crosses are the pincer beams, running between the columns to help further wedge everything firmly together. The most important bracing elements are the carved buttresses that are supported by knee joints and arc upward from the outer wall to the top of the arcade as these help to support the outward thrust on the stave walls.
Borgund has tiered, overhanging roofs, topped with a tower. On the gables of the roof, there are four carved dragon heads, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, recalling the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships. Similar gable heads also appear on small bronze house shaped reliquaries common in Norway in this period. Borgund's current dragon heads possibly date from the XVIII century, however original dragon heads remaining on earlier structures, such as Lom stave church and nearby Urnes stave church, the oldest still extant stave church, also in the Sogn district, suggest that there probably would have been similar dragon heads there at one time. Borgund is one of the only churches to still have preserved its ridge crests, carved with openwork vine and vegetal repeating designs. The dragons on top of the church were often used as a form of drainage.
Most of the internal fittings have been removed. Apart from the row of benches that are installed along the wall inside the church in the ambulatory outside of the arcade and raised platform, a soapstone font, an altar (with XVII century altarpiece), a XVI century lectern, and a XVI century cupboard for storing altar vessels there is little else in the building. After the Reformation, when the church was converted for Protestant worship, pews, a pulpit and other standard church furnishings were included, however these have been removed since the building has come under the protection of the "Fortidsminneforeningen" ("The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments"). There would have been more artwork in the building, most likely in the form of statues and crucifixes, as remain in a few other churches, but these are now lost.
Several runic inscriptions are found on the walls of the church. One reads: Thor wrote these runes in the evening at the St. Olav's Mass, and another one reads "Ave Maria" and you will find these at the west portal of the church. 
In top left corner is the lion from coat of arms.
Denominations in numerals and in words are in lower left corner and centered. In numeral in top right corner.
Comments:
Invalid from 13.07.1999.
Designers: Knut Løkke-Sørensen (obverse side) and Henry Welde (reverse side).
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