500 euro note rapidly so that in the first 7 years (up to December 2008) there were 530,064,413 five hundred euro banknotes in circulation. Subsequently, the rate of increase was radically slowed. In August 2018, there were approximately 515,000,000 banknotes in circulation (decreased from 614,000,000 in 2015). It is the second least widely circulated denomination, accounting for 2.4% of the total banknotes. It is the largest note measuring 160 × 82 mm and has a purple colour scheme. The five hundred euro banknotes depict bridges and arches/doorways in modern architecture (around the late 20th century). The five hundred euro note contains several complex
Euro banknotes European Central Bank. In the first series, banknotes printed after March 2012 bear the signature of the third, and incumbent ECB President, Mario Draghi. Notes printed between November 2003 and March 2012 show the signature of Jean Claude Trichet, the second President of the ECB, replacing that of the first president, Wim Duisenberg, who was the ECB president when the first euro banknotes and coins were issued, until 2003. As at 2017, only the signature of the third, incumbent ECB President, Mario Draghi, features on the Europa series notes. The European Central Bank has described some of the basic security