500 Som

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic issued the 500 Som banknote in 2023 as part of the first phase of banknote modernization, beginning circulation on May 10, 2023. This purple-violet note measures 144 mm x 68 mm. The obverse features a portrait of Sayakbay Karalaev (1894-1971), the most renowned manaschi (narrator of the Manas epic) in Kyrgyz history, who could recite the complete Manas epic — one of the world's longest oral epics at over 500,000 lines — from memory. Karalaev was recognized by UNESCO and is considered the greatest keeper of the Kyrgyz oral tradition.

The reverse displays the Manas Ordo mausoleum complex near Talas, associated with the legendary hero Manas who is the central figure of the Kyrgyz national epic. The Manas epic traces the story of a Kyrgyz warrior who united his people against invaders, and has been passed down through oral tradition for over a thousand years. The Manas Ordo complex is a site of profound cultural and spiritual significance, with the 14th-century Gumbez Manas mausoleum as its centerpiece.

The 500 Som note, with its focus on the oral epic tradition, reflects the central importance of the Manas cycle to Kyrgyz national identity. In 1995, Kyrgyzstan celebrated the 1,000th anniversary of the Manas epic as a defining moment of post-Soviet national renaissance, placing the epic at the heart of the country's cultural self-understanding.