The European Central Bank offered the public a peek at how it operates on Sunday, hosting around 1000 visitors who sat in governors' chairs, learned about liquidity and handled counterfeit cash.

First stop was the 36th floor of the ECB tower in Frankfurt, and access to the conference room where policymakers from 15 countries decide the benchmark lending rate for 320-million people.

The bank is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and President Jean-Claude Trichet gave a video welcome in German, which replaced English for a day as the common language since the vast majority of visitors were local.

Law student Karina Wardak said she felt while sitting in an ECB governing council chair "a kind of responsibility, but also of power."

Her friend Myram, an interior designer, agreed that those who sat there regularly carried a great weight on their shoulders, and added: "I hope they don't forget it."

Both appreciated Trichet's warm welcome in German, with Wardak commenting that the ECB chief appeared particularly open to the public.

"I find this cute because important people don't usually act this way," she said, adding that the overall effect was "very nice, with the French accent."

For Myram, "it showed we are important for him. We are not small people."

One of the visitors' first questions however, and apparently one asked often, was "why is there only one woman," in this case Austrian Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, who is a member of the ECB executive board.

Each of the eurozone's national bank members is represented on the governing council, but all the bank governors for now at least are men.

The tour then headed to the bank's trading operations room, from where the ECB provides cash for commercial banks, an activity that has taken on huge importance in light of an international liquidity crisis that followed the collapse of the US market for high-risk, or subprime, mortgages.

Sums like ECB refinancing operations of the order of 200 billion euros (300 billion dollars) had an impact on young and old alike, though a bank official took care to explain that whatever was pumped into the system was also siphoned back at a later date.

Then it was on to an exhibition where visitors learned why the bank focused on price stability rather than just looking for ways to boost economic growth, and were introduced to some funny money.

A German savings bank employee named Roland, said "it was fascinating to hold counterfeit money," and acknowledged that at first he could not tell the difference between a real and a fake €50 bill.

Little by little, however, with help from German national bank employees, visitors were able to spot security features of euro banknotes that make the single European currency somewhat harder to counterfeit.

Many of those who signed up for the tour wanted a look at a European institution which they had heard much about but did not really know.

Insurance software developer Mathias Herscher said it was "a chance to go behind closed doors," while Wardak added that "regulations are one thing, but its another thing to see the people, the faces" of those who apply the rules.

"I understand more than before," her friend Myram added.

The big draw was undoubtedly however a glimpse of one of the financial world's most important centers of power.

"I think its exciting to be in a room where very important decisions are made," Herscher said.

"We had a nice view."

AFP