The Hermitage Cat’s Day 2012

On April 21st, 2012, The Hermitage Cat’s Day, a special project developed at the State Hermitage Museum and dedicated to the cats that live in the museum, was observed, as a tradition. As the director of the State Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky noted, "The cats have become an important part of our life at the Hermitage and one of our most significant Hermitage legends."
The history of our cat friends began in the nearly 18th century, when Peter the Great sent a cat that he had brought in from Holland to live in the Winter Palace. Later on, the Empress Elizabeth issued an "Order on the Transportation of Cats to the Palace" in which she ordered that her subjects "find the best and largest cats in Kazan that are suitable for catching mice... and if anyone has such gib cats, this person is to make that fact known so that they may be sent to the governorate chancellery." Catherine the Great, the founder of the Hermitage, gave the cats the status of protectors of the picture galleries. Every spring, the Hermitage holds The Hermitage Cat’s Day, a holiday that has been a lovely tradition at the museum in recent years.

The press conference dedicated to the holiday was held in the School Center by S.B. Asaksina the Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage Museum and Head custodian, M.B. Haltunen, Executive Assistant to General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, Mary Ann Allin, the President of Swashbuckler Enterprises Inc., author of the book Anna and the Cats, or An Adventure in the Hermitage, I.V. Chuvaev, the Head doctor of the Institute of Veterinary Biology, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Timely Questions in Veterinary Biology, and A. Dyopar, Regional Marketing Director of the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC.

On April 21st, the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace hosted the award ceremony for the winners of the Kingdom of Cats. Cats Big and Small in the Museum school contests. A piece chosen by the event partner, the Nevskaya Palytra Paint Factory, was honored with a special prize. Andrei Kuznetzov, a representative of the Mitki, a group of artists, held an open competition entitled My Hermitage Cat, invited anyone who wishes to imagine and draw their image of a Hermitage animal.

In the halls of the museum, the visitors were able to play Hunting for Lions or Travels with a Hermitage Cat, to help a Hermitage cat find its distant ancestor, a lion, in the works of art in the Hermitage collection. The culmination of the game was a visit to the Egyptian cat, the one unique mummified cat in the State Hermitage Museum.

The cat was a sacred animal to the goddess Bastet from the city of Bubastis on the Delta. Bastet was initially identified with a lioness, but in statues from the Late Period (7th-4th centuries B.C.E.) dedicated to the temples by her worshipers, she is depicted with a cat’s head. As a fierce lioness, Bastet was identified with the goddess Sekhmet, who had the same appearance, and as a playful cat, she was associated with the goddess of joy, Hathor. Hundreds of thousands of mummified cats have been preserved from Bastet’s place of worship, like the one in the Hermitage.

On the same day, the attic and basement of the Winter Palace hosted a presentation of paintings by professional artists, inspired by the noble animals, pieces by students who studied in the creative sections of the Student Club of the Hermitage Youth Center, as well as pieces by schoolchildren who participated in the Kingdom of Cats. Cats Big and Small in the Museum school contest.

For many years, the life of the Hermitage cats has been supported by the employees of the Hermitage with the help of the ProAnimale charitable organization and the Elvet clinic. This year the Hermitage cats acquired new benefactors; the State Hermitage Museum, the SWASH cultural programs fund and the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC signed an agreement on cooperation for the Hermitage Cats charity project. The project consists of two parts; the first, or cultural part, consists of the republication of Mary Ann Allin and M .B. Haltunen’s book Anna and the Cats, or An Adventure in the Hermitage, as well as preparing a musical based on the book, which is intended to be presented to the public in the Hermitage Theatre next year. The second part of the Hermitage Cats charity project is a practical one:

1) the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC will give the Hermitage cats food for several years
2) the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC will set aside funds for gradual repairs to the area in the basement of the Winter Palace, the so-called Cat house. Plans call for waterproofing work this year, which will be handled by Beta Com Company.
3) the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC will set aside funds for additional medical service for the Hermitage cats, which will be provided by the Elvet Clinic and the new Hermitage partner, the Institute of Veterinary Biology.

The Hermitage Cat’s Day 2012 was organized with the support and participation of the SWASH cultural programs fund, Swashbuckler Enterprises Inc., the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC, the Elvet Clinic, the Institute of Veterinary Biology, ProAnimale, the Nevskaya Palytra Paint Factory, the World Club of Petersburgers, the Hermit Park Company, The Draughtsman’s Contract Gallery, Beta Com Company, Transelectro Company, and PrettyCat.

M. B. Piotrovsky

S.B. Adaksina

M.B. Haltunen

Mary Ann Allin

Attila Dyopar

I.V. Chuvaev