Cats a hit in Russian museum
Print Edition
FOR more than a century, visitors have marvelled at the precious collections of Russia’s Hermitage Museum, and for just as long, dozens of cats have prowled the Saint Petersburg palace’s sprawling cellars.
The felines have one main task: to root out unwanted rodents. The 70-odd brigade have their claws so deep into the history of one of the world’s oldest museums that there is even a special feline unit dedicated to their welfare.
“Our cats are as well-known as our collections,” beamed Irina Popovets, the unit’s head.
Every morning, art lovers from the world over arrive at the gates of the Hermitage complex on the Neva river housing a collection that spans ancient art to modern masters like Cezanne, Gauguin and Degas.
Meanwhile, Popovets heads down below to feed her purring charges, a mixed batch of colors and breeds who are always overjoyed to see her.
Her office is located near the massive underworld inhabited by the cats and its walls are hung with portraits of the beloved animals.
“People very often discreetly bring us their cats,” she said, and the museum sometimes struggles to keep the ever-expanding feline staff.
Cats first found a home at the Hermitage in the 1850s, survived successive wars, invasions and even the revolution that overthrew Tsarist rule.
The cats, however, did not survive the Nazi siege as the famished population ate all their pets in order to survive.
Legend has it that the palace’s feline guard was brought back to life when World War II ended, when new recruits were brought in by train.
And they have become stars in their own right, hugely popular with some three million tourists who visit each year and snap up souvenirs and postcards adorned with cat pictures on sale in the museum’s shops.
“Given the Hermitage cats’ popularity, we have decided to kickstart a process to copyright their name,” museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky said.
There is even an annual holiday in the felines’ honor once a year, as well as a website inviting residents of Saint Petersburg to adopt one.
Popovets picks up her phone to answer queries from a man keen to take home a kitten.
“You’re right, it is an honour to adopt a Hermitage cat,” Popovets tells him.
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