Hermitage

The Hermitage is a legendary museum complex that is known to everyone. About three million exhibits every day except Monday await visitors' assessment. But few people know that the Hermitage is also unique in that not only works of art, but also ... cats live in its walls.

Four-legged tails settled in the Hermitage for a reason. Even Elizabeth, like any girl of that time, madly afraid of mice, wrote out of Kazan the best cats-pipers. Arriving at the court of the Empress "vaski" and "murziks" everyone liked, but they first settled not in the Winter Palace. At that time it was just being built, and therefore Elizabeth took cats in her chambers. But Catherine the Great transferred the four-legged guard to the Winter Palace, where cats still guard paintings and sculptures.

Hermitage cats have enough work: every day they catch mice that hunt for museum exhibits. There was a time when the tails walked around all the halls, including the director's office. But after the story with spoiled documents, cats were not only forbidden such freedom, but even caught them and urgently removed from the museum complex. Without cats, the Hermitage did not last long - the ubiquitous rats and mice were not at all shy of people: they reproduced and reproduced in the lockers of workers, happily gnawed holes in the thickest doors, getting to the exhibits. The poisons did not work, so it was decided to return the cats. And that's when the cat's happiness began! Smart "murks" allocated basement to be content categorically refused and periodically walked around the halls with visitors. Adults and children grinned at the pussy, but the museum security literally went crazy - constantly howled alarms triggered by cat walks. But that’s not all: one of the cat-aesthetics chose the imperial throne! Rangers for a better color renamed her from Manka to Katka and chased: "Katka, throw off the throne!".

But today, the place of residence of cats is a basement. There is a special room for them, there is also an infirmary for patients. And twice a year, the Hermitage cats are caught to undergo a real medical examination. Veterinarians are attentive to everyone, they certainly do ultrasound and vaccinations. Cats protect the museum from mice, but they also need to be protected from fleas. This is why they have special collars. Except that not always tails agree to wear these things. And I wish I could just shoot... Museum staff more than once had to pull cats out of boas: collars they clinged to pipes and taps. Fortunately, there were no real cases of suicide.

Hermitage cats are becoming more and more, because many citizens throw their pets, abdicating responsibility. Yes, cats in the museum complex will not be offended, but it is unthinkable to keep everyone. Today, the official cat budget is three thousand rubles a month. Dividing it into 50-70 cats is ridiculous. To keep the pussy helps the staff of the charity organization "Pro animal", the owner of a private German animal shelter and, of course, ordinary tourists. Residents of our country and foreigners leave the Directorate of the Hermitage packets with food or small amounts to support cats.

And yet the museum complex cannot accommodate all the thrown "Murziks". That is why the Hermitage Cat Fair will be held in March, where everyone can buy an aristocratic cat.

Many tourists are surprised that museum cats are extremely unsociable. It should be noted that trust is the enemy of any cat. Yes, undoubtedly, most people just want to pet a cute animal, play, scratch behind the ear. But there are other people. Sociable Hermitage cats, going to the Palace Square, risk staying there forever. You can not only get under the wheels of transport. There are people who deliberately abuse animals. Because of such unhealthy types, gullible Hermitage cats die.

The Hermitage is unthinkable without cats, just as the Tower is without tame crows. In order to protect the four-legged guards as much as possible, employees on the street even put up a special sign for drivers - "Careful, cats!" And, I must say, it has already become a landmark - especially loved by children. Therefore, when you go to the Hermitage with a baby, promise him "for dessert" to tell about the real cat kingdom and show its inhabitants.

Anna Veliko