place
Częstochowa
also: Ченстохов, Ченстохова, Częstochowa
A city in south-central Poland (then part of the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire), site of the Jasna Góra monastery and a major garrison town; the colonel's regiment is stationed near it in the winter of 1843, and it is from here that he sets out on the snowbound Christmas Eve ride that frames his story.
Reading notes
- It Was She! §3 our regiment was stationed near Częstochowa
Częstochowa, in the Kingdom of Poland (then under Russian imperial administration), was a garrison town and pilgrimage site centered on the Jasna Góra monastery; a Russian regiment stationed nearby, as here, was part of the ordinary military occupation of Russian Poland after the 1830-31 and (later) 1863 uprisings.