៛500 — Five Hundred Riels
The artwork
Front: Angkor Wat seen from the western causeway, its five lotus towers rendered in fine engraved line, with the colonnaded gallery and a naga balustrade head rising at the left edge. The issuer's name in Khmer runs across the top, the value ៥០០ at upper left and 500 at lower right, and the denomination spelled out — ប្រាំរយរៀល, five hundred riel — along the foot above the counterfeiting warning.
Back: The Kizuna Bridge at Kampong Cham, the long concrete span carrying National Road 7 over the Mekong, built with Japanese assistance. A car runs up the approach past a guardian lion on its plinth and a naga-crested monument at the bridgehead, street lamps stepping away into the distance. "NATIONAL BANK OF CAMBODIA / 2004" sits plainly at upper right, with the value repeated three times below.
In circulation
Part of the National Bank's modern low-value family, this 2004-dated printing joined the earlier 500 riel and circulated widely for everyday small purchases, in the awkward company of US dollars. Later dated printings of the same denomination followed, and the design remains familiar in daily use across the country.
Details
- IssuerNational Bank of Cambodia — ធនាគារជាតិ នៃ កម្ពុជា
- CurrencyRiel (៛)
- DenominationFive Hundred Riels
- Collectedon the Cambodia journey, 2009
- SeriesDated 2004
- SignatureTwo: the Governor (ទេសាភិបាល) and the General Cashier (អគ្គបេឡា)
- SecuritySerial number printed twice in red, Khmer prefix ជង; counterfeiting warning in Khmer along the lower front