![Protecting Switzerland’s banknotes like a lion – the Swiss National Bank.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/reservebanknoten-titel-300x225.jpg)
Banknotes for emergencies
What do you do when counterfeiters or a hostile power flood the country with counterfeit money? The contingency plan formulated by the Swiss National Bank: reserve notes.
![50-gulden note from St Gallen, 19th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/50-gulden-banknote-300x122.jpg)
![Built between 1919 and 1922, the main building of the Swiss National Bank on Börsenstrasse in Zurich, 1944.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/nationlbank-zurich-300x214.jpg)
![The 5-franc reserve note from the second banknote series of 1911 (obverse).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/5-franken-banknote-300x169.jpg)
![Chemistry as a science of the future, designed by Lucerne artist Hans Erni: the 500-franc reserve note from the 1938 fourth banknote series (reverse of the proof).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/500-franken-banknote-300x166.jpg)
What do you do when counterfeiters or a hostile power flood the country with counterfeit money? The contingency plan formulated by the Swiss National Bank: reserve notes.