Title: Kherson Province

Description

This early-19th century playing card is from a set of 60 such cards, each devoted to a different province or territory of the Russian Empire, which at the time included the Grand Duchy of Finland, Congress Poland, and Russian America. One side of each card shows the local costume and the provincial coat of arms; the other side contains a map. This card depicts Kherson Province, located in part of present-day Ukraine, and bordered by the Black Sea in the south. Situated on the Dnieper River, Kherson was the administrative center of the province. The card indicates that the distance from Kherson to St. Petersburg was 1,788¾ versts, and from Kherson to Moscow, 1,303¼ versts. A verst is a Russian measurement of distance, no longer used, equal to 1.0668 kilometers.