Do you know that I am friends with Pushkin? I've been to his house several times, and he even recited his poems to me personally!
—— Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "The Inspector General"
The burly Shubinsky, with his well-groomed, shiny beard, wore a neat uniform. The two treasured medals that he had previously tucked away to conceal his identity were now prominently displayed on his chest.
One of them was a long-service medal awarded for his stable and reliable service in the military, and the other, a third-class Saint Stanislaus Medal with red and green stripes, had a rather interesting backstory.
This medal was originally an honor from Poland, but after the Tsar also became the King of Poland, the Saint Stanislaus Medal naturally became part of the Russian honorary system, becoming one of the significant honors awarded to officials and nobility of the Russian Empire.
However, the medal was primarily awarded to officials who had long served in the Kingdom of Poland.
