The Danish 500-krone banknote began circulating with Niels Bohr’s portrait in 1997.
It was part of Denmark’s 1997 banknote series, which combined portraits of notable Danes with artwork inspired by medieval church decorations. The blue 500-kroner note featured Bohr, the Danish nuclear physicist and 1922 Nobel Prize winner, on its front.
The note was first issued on 12 September 1997. Its reverse showed a knight fighting a dragon, a motif derived from a stone relief at Lihme Church in northern Jutland. The design was updated in 2003 with enhanced security features while retaining Bohr’s portrait and the same main motifs.
The 500-krone denomination is easy to confuse with Denmark’s 200- and 1000-krone notes from the same series, which carried different figures. The Bohr note is now historical: the 1997-series notes ceased to be legal tender after 31 May 2025.