Euro banknotes entered circulation on 23 September 2014. The full design of the Europa series 20 euro banknote was revealed on 24 February 2015, On 4 May 2016, the European Central Bank announced that the Europa series 500 euro banknote would not be released, due to fears of "facilitating the criminal activity". The old series will gradually be withdrawn. The ECB will announce "well in advance" when the old notes will lose their legal tender status. However, they will not lose their value and it will be possible to exchange them for new notes at Eurosystem central banks indefinitely. "A good design
Euro banknotes a common theme of European architecture in various artistic eras. The obverse of the banknote features windows or gateways while the reverse bears different types of bridges. The architectural examples are stylised illustrations, not representations of existing monuments. All the notes of the initial series of euro notes bear the European flag, a map of the continent on the reverse, the name "euro" in both Latin and Greek script (EURO / ΕΥΡΩ) and the signature of a president of the ECB, depending on when the banknote was printed. The 12 stars from the flag are also incorporated into every note.