Belgium is a country in Western Europe known for medieval towns, Renaissance architecture and as headquarters of the European Union and NATO. The country has distinctive regions including Dutch-speaking Flanders to the north, French-speaking Wallonia to the south and a German-speaking community to the east. The bilingual capital, Brussels, has ornate guildhalls at Grand-Place and elegant art-nouveau buildings.

Belgium's strongly globalized economy and the world's 15th largest trading nation in 2007. The Belgian franc was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, known as centiemen (Dutch), centimes (French) or Centime (German).

The banknote depicted in the picture alongside is a 5 Francs note in use from 1914 to 1921. The obverse has a woman with sheaf on horseback of two horses. The reverse depicts an allegorical family and allegorical couple in the background. The reverse depicts an allegorical woman, youth, children and cherubins and decorative vase.

Image Courtesy: iBelgica