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This classic Russian Tsarist banknote ( 500 Roubles denomination ) features one the greatest of this nation's leaders on an enormous format ( 275 x 128 mm or 10 3/4 x 5 inches ).

Peter I, also known as Peter the Great, was an extraordinarily powerful man. He ruled as Tsar of Russia from 1682 to 1725, becoming the first Russian Emperor in 1721. The youngest son of the Tsar, Alexis, by a second marriage, Peter had no expectations of ruling and therefore avoided the customary rituals and secluded upbringing associated with royalty. Fyodor III,

Peter's half brother, took over as Tsar upon Alexis's death in 1676. Shortly after, in 1682, Fyodor III died, leaving Peter to rule as co-Tsar with his half brother Ivan V, and under the regency of his half sister, Sophia. In 1689, however, Peter gained full effective control of the government by means of a plot engineered by his mother, Natalya Naryskin.

At the onset of his reign, Peter learned the arts of war at sea in skirmishes against the Turks at Azov on the Black Sea. He then traveled to Europe to examine their latest technical advances and to recruit the aid of military and engineering experts. Peter transformed Russia, starting the country on its steady path towards modernization. He restructured the government, choosing men for high offices on the basis of merit, rather than hereditary nobility. Peter reformed the church, and extended toleration to religious dissenters. He founded new schools and started the Russian Academy of Sciences. He increased the involvement of women in Russian social life, encouraged children to study abroad, and modernized the traditional dress and style of men's fashion. Peter founded the city of St. Petersburg, and made it Russia's capital.

Four years before Peter's death, he defeated Charles XII in Poltava, Ukraine. This bloody conflict resulted in the Peace of Nystadt, giving Russia its desired ports and proclaiming Peter the Great as the Emperor of all th Russias. In 1725, at the age of 52, Peter died of a cold contracted while trying to save some of his soldiers from drowning.