Statistics say that every 14th person on the planet is the lucky owner of a cat or cat. Therefore, everything related to the cat world is so popular, including museums dedicated to these mustachioed favorites. Such cultural attractions can be found in different countries. In the Russian town called Vsevolozhsk the Museum of cats was opened in December 2008.
Vsevolozhsk - a city where cats are respected
How many moustached-striped live in the city of Vsevolozhsk, no one knows. But in the veterinary clinic "Elvet" they treated everyone - both purebred and outbred cats, and then came up with the idea of creating a museum. And they carried out such a project with the help of St. Petersburg artists, collectors from different cities and employees of various museums.
Now, on the first floor of a cozy wooden mansion, various pets are still being treated, and on the second a long history of the relationship between cats and people opens.
Core staff
The main cats in the Museum of cats (Vsevolozhsk), of course, are cats: fluffy beauty Mary, outbred Theodore, Mikhail Potapych (sphinx), Cornish rex Latifa and Briton Vasily.
Vasily is an advanced Internet user, he even maintains his own blog, where he uploads museum news. Previously, four-legged employees served in the Hermitage, but now they communicate with visitors, allowing them to stroke and hug themselves.
Cats - museum staff live in the Moore Tea Room, where visitors can enjoy tea or coffee. The atmosphere of the museum is so creative that incoming adults and children are happy to draw postcards or write poems dedicated to cats, giving them as a souvenir to the museum fund. Kids are invited to take photos in funny cat hats and see what is stored underground in Baba Yaga.
The Cat Museum (Vsevolozhsk) receives the most favorable reviews, because the unique exposition can make anyone an avid cat-cat.
Hall tour
The Cat Museum opened in Vsevolozhsk is located in 4 halls, where more than 4 thousand exhibits tell about the amazing history of relations between people and cats. In the museum’s collection you can see everything related to cats: costumes and souvenirs, toys and figurines, paintings, posters, posters, including copyright ones, are richly presented. During the tour, even cat experts discover a lot of new things.
Modern installations and reproductions of paintings by famous masters of painting who immortalized cats on their canvases, photographs, and author's toys make it possible to trace how attitudes toward cats change over time. Famous contemporary artists Tatyana Rodionova and Vladimir Rumyantsev presented their works for the museum. How cats lived in Ancient Egypt, the peculiarities of the perception of these animals in Japan and in Russia - all this is recognized by visitors during the tour.
What will the guides talk about?
Located in Vsevolozhsk Cat Museum It can’t be boring, because they conduct interactive excursions and games here, you can reincarnate as Aibolita or chat with the cats working here in their language.
Particular attention during the excursions is devoted to cats of St. Petersburg, and the Hermitage in particular, tells about the fate of animals in the besieged Leningrad.
The secret life of cats, superstition and myths associated with these animals, the significance of the four-legged in the lives of entire peoples and individual famous personalities - in the museum halls, many exhibits illustrate the words of the guide.
The scientific work of museum staff
Guides tell in detail about how the science of cats (felinology) is developing in our country, talk about its features and difficulties, and also explain interestingly how to treat, feed a pet and properly care for it. An entire section of the exhibition is devoted to the biology of cats. On the basis of the veterinary clinic , master classes on the treatment of animals are held.
In Vsevolozhsk the Museum of Cats has collected a rich collection literary art dedicated to cats:
- folklore works - sayings and proverbs, riddles, tales, signs;
- compositions of poets and writers on a cat's theme;
- tables with the words "meow" and "cat" in all world languages.
A video and music library is accumulating in the museum; the film about the Hermitage cats was the first in the kototek.
Living museum
The Cat Museum is not just a place to store exhibits. In public life of the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, he takes an active part. Cat shows and cat shows, fascinating biology lessons for schoolchildren and theater groups, art exhibitions, flash mobs and master classes are all just a small part of what the museum does.
One of his most popular actions is the program for the improvement of the yards of St. Petersburg, where feline representatives live. Many townspeople were carried away by creating cozy courtyards for animals, supporting the idea of a museum. Since 2015, the excursion project "Motley Petersburg" has been developing here, thanks to which the cultural capital appears from an unusual point of view.
How to find
At this address you can visit the Cat Museum: Koltushskoe highway, 214, Vsevolozhsk. You can get here in many ways:
- From St. Petersburg to Vsevolozhsk the journey by private car will take about an hour, depending on the area of departure.
- You can take the trains that leave from Finland Station every half hour. An electric train runs to Vsevolozhskaya station for 33 minutes. Numerous buses and minibuses depart from the station around the city, almost everyone makes a stop near the museum. Walking distance from the train station will take about 20 minutes.
- Bus No. 531 leaves from the Ladozhskaya metro station (St. Petersburg), you need to go half an hour to the Alekseevsky Prospekt stop, it still has the name Vetklinika Cat Museum (Vsevolozhsk), then walk 200 m.
How the Cat Museum in Vsevolozhsk works
Fans of cats can visit the museum on any day except Monday, from 11 to 16 hours. On weekends, the exhibition is open until 17 hours. The only caveat: to visit you must pre-register by phone + 7-812- 947-38-74.
The pleasure of the museum is huge, and the ticket price is minimal:
- for adults and children - 100 rubles;
- kids up to 3 years old, pensioners, people with disabilities and other privileged categories - for free.
How to contribute to the development of the museum
Museum of cats (Vsevolozhsk) - a young and actively developing. He gratefully accepts help and cooperation. So, if a cat fan has his own collection dedicated to this wonderful animal, then the museum will gladly accept it. Well, if it is impossible to part with the collection, it can become an exhibition platform, so that as many people as possible can also see wonderful cat-collections.
The museum has become a truly popular project, its creators are fans of cats from different cities of Russia and the world.
What museum visitors say
Of course, the Cat Museum in Vsevolozhsk collects reviews carefully. Most visitors note their delight and shock from what they saw. Even avid kotomani find here a lot of new and interesting information. Some visitors to the museum are surprised by the long history of the existence of the cute four-legged. Touching to tears, it seems cat loyalty to man, as well as feats accomplished by cats in the difficult period of the Leningrad blockade.
Someone regrets that such a number of figurines dedicated to cats is difficult to assemble. And absolutely everyone reports that visiting the museum is a wonderful time.