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 a design competition, launched by the Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) on 12 February 1996. The winning entry, created by Robert Kalina from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, was selected on 3 December 1996. The euro banknotes are pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel. In the first series, the Azores, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique, Réunion, and the Canary Islands, overseas territories of the eurozone member states, which also use the euro, are shown under the map in separate boxes. Cyprus and Malta were not shown on the first series