 |
| The Hermitage cat in the main staircase, photo by the Hermitage. |
In Saint Petersburg you can quite easily meet wild cats who live in courtyards
of big buildings. Some friendly grannies feed them or they get their meals from
wastebaskets or they hunt mice.
Those cats I’ve seen very many when I’ve visited Saint Petersburg. What
I would like to see are the Hermitage cats with their special reputation. But
it’s not easy. You hear about them but you don’t see them if you don’t take
into account books published from the Hermitage cats. Those you can buy in the
museum.
Now I don’t tell the whole truth, because I really have seen the
Hermitage cats, but not in the museum. I have seen them in the Cat’s Republic
in Saint Petersburg. It’s a special cat coffee shop where nearly 20 Hermitage
cats have moved after they have retired from their work at the Hermitage art
museum.
So they work at the museum. They live in the basement of the museum and
catch mice and rats and so they protect pieces of art.
Nowadays there might be about 70-80 cats in the Hermitage. The numbers
of the cats varies. In the Cat’s Republic they told that there would have been
even 100 cats and that’s why cats had to move to the coffee shop.
 |
| A cat at the Cat's Republic Saint Petersburg. Photos: Sirpa Pääkkönen |
The cats were present in the museum, originally a palace, since the 18th
century in 1745. The Empress, Elizabeth ordered cats to be placed in the
palace in order to control the mice. She received five rat hunters from the
town of Kazan in Tatarstan. The Hermitage cats were looked after by special
servants and they good food from the empire’s treasury.
The cats remained in St. Petersburg except during World War II, when the
existing cat population was killed. Saint Petersburg was suffering from hunger when the city was sieged by Germans. After the war a new group of cats replaced
the previous cats since the rat population had increased.
Nowadays there is a special The Day of the Hermitage Cat in the spring devoted to the
felines that live in the museum. Then the cellars of the Winter Palace are open
for the visitors.Perhaps you could meet the Hermitage cats on that special day.
 |
| Street cats in Saint Petersburg. |
 |
| Cat's Republic. |
 |
| Cat's Republic. |
 |
| Cat's Republic. |
 |
| Street cats get food in Saint Petersburg. |
Kommentit
Lähetä kommentti