Hermitage cats distribution. Cat Day in the Hermitage

“Day of the Hermitage Cat” is a special project developed at the State Hermitage Museum and dedicated to the cats living in the museum.

As the director of the Hermitage Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky notes, “cats have become a very important part of our Hermitage life and one of the significant Hermitage legends.”

The Hermitage cats trace their history back to the beginning of the 18th century, when Peter I settled a cat brought from Holland in the Winter Palace. Later, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna issued a “Decree on the expulsion of cats to the court,” in which she ordered “to find in Kazan the best and largest cats that are convenient for catching mice... And if anyone has such stored cats, they should be announced for speedy departure to provincial office." Catherine the Great, the founder of the Hermitage, gave cats the status of guards of art galleries.

“The Day of the Hermitage Cat” is a holiday that has become a wonderful and good tradition in recent years.

The program “Hermitage Cat Day - 2017” was prepared by the State Hermitage with the support of: ProAnimale, Royal Canin, Ivanko Company, Elvet Clinic, PrettyCat, ZhK Nevskaya Palitra, NON-STOP Ultra LLC, RoyalTent LLC, Beta-Com LLC, Transelektro LLC, Hermit Park LLC, Protein RA, Star Group LLC, Hermitage Foundation. XXI century", Museum On Line Inc.

Program

12.00
The opening ceremony of the “Hermitage Cat Day 2017”:
Summing up the results of the school competition “The Hermitage Cat’s Journey to the East”;
Open competition “My Hermitage cat” (Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace).

14.00
Exhibition-event “The cat is bad that does not dream of becoming a tiger” (hall 351, third floor of the Winter Palace). Open until May 21, 2017.

12.00 – 16.00

12.00 – 16.00
Game “Reading Ovid, or Traveling with the Hermitage Cat” (in the halls of the museum).

Walk “Where the Cats Live”:
Exhibition of school works and creative projects of students of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Film and Television;
Meeting with the Hermites (project “The Hermites. A St. Petersburg Fairy Tale”, basement of the Winter Palace).

“Art Workshop” (Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace).

Today in the St. Petersburg cafe “Republic of Cats” on Yakubovicha Street (from 15.00 to 21.00) there will be a traditional distribution “All Shades of Cat”, where everyone can take home the Hermitage cat they like.

According to Komsomolskaya Pravda in St. Petersburg, this year a maritime theme was chosen for this event.

They always protected the priceless exhibits of the museum from mice and rats and in former times served in the imperial palace with the rank of Life Guards.

The cats are now respected staff members of the museum. All animals are sterilized and each of them has a passport, veterinary card, own bowl, tray and sleeping basket. The uniform of the tailed employees is a yellow neck bow.

Cats can move freely around the Hermitage, but they are not allowed to enter the museum halls.

The network of basements itself (almost two dozen kilometers) where cats live and hunt is called the “big cat basement.”

Comfortable living conditions have been created for cats - the basements are always dry and warm, all rooms are equipped with small passages, allowing them freedom of movement

There is no item in the museum’s budget for keeping cats; food is purchased with donations from visitors, museum workers, and sponsors (including money sent from abroad).

In the year of the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage, the director of the museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, announced that he had set a limit of 50 cats; the museum would give away the “surplus” to good hands. The ranks are replenished mainly by alien outbred animals; often they are planted by their owners.

Before handing over the cat, a conversation is held with the potential owner, the coordinates and passport details of the latter are recorded. Priority is given to married couples; employees are not ready to give cats to communal and rented apartments.

The new owner receives a certificate “Owner of the Hermitage Cat”, which gives the opportunity for lifelong free access to exhibition halls.

There is a Club of Friends of Hermitage Cats at the museum. According to the director of the museum M.B. Piotrovsky, “cats are a legend of Hermitage life and its integral part,” and “interviews and filming about cats are no less common than about Rembrandt.”

On May 13, the State Hermitage will host the next “Hermitage Cat Day” - a special project developed and dedicated to cats living in the museum. The Hermitage cats trace their history back to the beginning of the 18th century, when Peter I settled a cat brought from Holland in the Winter Palace.

Later, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna issued a “Decree on the expulsion of cats to the court,” in which she ordered “to find in Kazan the best and largest cats that are convenient for catching mice... And if anyone has such stored cats, they should be announced for speedy departure to provincial office." Catherine the Great, the founder of the Hermitage, gave cats the status of guards of art galleries.

Every year the Hermitage holds a special program during which museum visitors have a unique opportunity to meet the heroes of the holiday - the Hermitage cats. St. Petersburg artists hold drawing competitions in the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace, and in the halls of the museum, visitors can help the Hermitage cat find masterpieces from the Hermitage collection. https://kuda-spb.ru/event/den-ermitazhnogo-kota-2017/

The cats even have a real Hermitage registration, as there is a note about here:

and there was another heroic page in the history of Leningrad cats, after the blockade they saved the city and the Hermitage also from hordes of rats:

http://amarok-man.livejournal.com/264324.html "How cats saved Leningrad"

The Hermitage cats, employees of the most famous museum in Russia, are becoming more and more popular every year and enjoy almost greater fame among tourists than the beautiful works of art they protect. Cats in the service of the Hermitage are the same symbols of St. Petersburg as the ravens of the Tower are symbols of Britain. Books are written about them and films are made, poems are dedicated to them, pictures are drawn from them. An annual holiday is dedicated to them, which takes place not just anywhere, but in the former residence of the Russian emperors - the Winter Palace. And not only cat lovers from all over Russia come to the Hermitage for Cat Day, but also foreign “ambassadors” - tourists from abroad. The celebration is opened by the best musicians - the Military Band of the headquarters of the North-Western Regional Command of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Of course, every time the museum prepares a very interesting and rich program for our dear guests. And this year was no exception. At the “My Hermitage Cat” event, young cat lovers painted large cat figures specially placed in the courtyard of the Winter Palace. In an impromptu art workshop, boys and girls, as well as their parents, painted fairy-tale houses for cats. Intellectual cat lovers took part in a quiz and won cat prizes, and quest lovers went through the museum halls in search of works of art with a “night” theme.

But the most interesting thing awaited visitors in the basements of the palace - where the famous cats of the Hermitage perform their service both on weekdays and on holidays.

The Day of the Hermitage Cat is the only opportunity for mere mortals to get into the cellars of the Winter Palace. Of course, on this day they look more elegant than always - they were decorated with more than four hundred children's drawings, works of participants in an art competition that was held specially for the holiday, as well as photographs of the mustachioed guards themselves.

But the cats - the Hermitage employees - looked at the crowds of guests with truly royal calm and feline arrogance. One would think that every day they hear the clicks of cameras and delighted aahs and aahs. Not a single mustache twitched even at the sight of gifts, and there were many of them. Marina and Liza Afanasyev from Moscow, for example, knowing about cats’ craving for comfort, brought a special cat house for their little ones.

However, the living conditions of the four-legged guards are already quite good. For their comfort, a whole farm has been organized in the basements of the Hermitage, which has a refrigerator, a washing machine, and an isolation ward in which cats undergo rehabilitation after illnesses or injuries. They are given water and food, and they are cleaned after them. Every six months, the mustachioed guard undergoes a medical examination - information about the health of each person is entered into special passports.

And this despite the fact that cats, the Hermitage employees, frankly speaking, do not recycle. Neither rats nor mice have been seen in the basements of the museum for a long time, and therefore the main task of the tailed army is to maintain the cat spirit in the basements, so that the gray evil spirits would not even think of coming here.

How many cats are there in the Hermitage

To the question: “How many cats live in the Hermitage?” Even the employees closest to their precious persons do not know the exact answer. It is only known that there are about six dozen cats and cats - they simply cannot fit comfortably into the existing territory.

During the next medical examination, the animals are counted, but the very next day some “employee” driven by wanderlust may leave and not return. After all, for them, unlike human workers, the doors are always open, and no one asks the cats for passes. And someone, on the contrary, appears from time to time, mostly these are unfortunate animals abandoned by irresponsible and cruel people.

But a kitten cannot be born into a family of Hermitage cats - all animals that come here must be sterilized. So there is no talk of breeding a special Hermitage breed - there are quite enough “nobles” here.

Distribution of cats from the Hermitage

How is the number of Hermitage cats regulated? It’s very simple: from time to time in St. Petersburg they hold promotions for the adoption of famous palace cats. First of all, they try to place in good hands those who are approaching “retirement” age and need peace and special care. But, despite the huge number of people interested, things are not moving so quickly.

The Hermitage takes the selection of candidates for “foster parents” extremely seriously. Firstly, they will never give up an animal if they understand that they want to take it “to the dacha”, for temporary residence. Secondly, applicants are tested for tolerance and knowledge of cat psychology - a person must understand that he is adopting an adult animal with an established character and habits. But if you can show your best features - your happiness, then you will take the “main exhibit” from the Hermitage.

By the way, the current Day of the Hermitage Cat was visited by such an adoptive family - museum employee Svetlana Egorova and the former Hermitage cat, Henri Matisse, “adopted” by her. Looking at the imposing handsome man, it is difficult to imagine that he once lived in a basement, even one in the Hermitage. Now Matisse even has a scientist cat outfit, and not by chance. According to the owner, this is a cat-poet, and the following lines belong to him: “When visiting the Hermitage, I rush to my floor. I am Matisse, I'm not kidding. I’ll spin you in a whirlwind of dance!”

Cats are employees of the Hermitage

“To your floor” - this means to the floor where the works of the great French impressionist are exhibited. The cats themselves are not allowed into the halls of the museum - for some time now, special grilles have been installed on all ventilation openings. This was done for the mutual safety of both the cats and the exhibits - the former from time to time got stuck in narrow passages and then frightened visitors to the Hermitage with their plaintive meows. By the way, the tradition of giving the Hermitage cats the names of great artists began just after such an incident. One sufferer got stuck in the ventilation of Van Dyck's hall, and after that she began to be called Vandyck. As we know, Henri Matisse, Wallen Delamoth and other “geniuses” lived in the Hermitage. However, the Hermitage cats do not boast of such big names, and respond to simpler names - Tisha, Kuzya, Musya.

By the way, the first mustachioed inhabitant of the Winter Palace was called Vasya. On this Hermitage Cat Day, one secret from his biography was revealed to the guests. Until recently, it was believed that Peter I brought the pet from Holland, but recently it became known that the cat was presented to the Tsar by Dutch merchants living in Vologda. So the legendary Vasily was a simple Russian cat, the same “nobleman” as the current Hermitage cats.

And what secret will be revealed to guests on the next Hermitage Cat Day? We will definitely find out this in a year, when the doors of the basements of the Winter Palace - a real palace of tailed ermics - will once again open to cat lovers.

Text and photo by Svetlana Mosolova

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