Monuments to cats can be found all over the world. These are animals that have been accompanying humans for several millennia, they have a special friendship with us. In the old days, cats were often revered. For example, in ancient Egypt they were even equated with gods. Many tailed and striped sculptures can be found in our country. We will tell about the most famous and entertaining of them in this article.
St. Petersburg
There are several monuments to cats in this city. For example, on Malaya Sadovaya Street there are two small but very remarkable sculptures at once - Elisha the cat and Vasilisa the cat.
They were cast from bronze by sculptor Vladimir Petrovichev. At first they were kept by businessman Ilya Botk, and in the early 2000s they were donated to the city. Cat Elisha sits on the ledge of house number 8, watching passers-by, and Vasilisa is located opposite him, at the level of the second floor of house number 3. Graceful and dreamy, she looks into the sky at the drifting clouds.
It is believed that thisa monument to a cat and a cat in St. Petersburg - thanks for saving us from the invasion of rats during the siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. As soon as famine began in the city, not a single cat remained, the rats began to destroy food supplies, nothing could be done about them. Then, several thousand tailed ones were specially brought to the Northern capital, who quickly coped with the mission assigned to them.
This is the most famous of the monuments to cats and cats. The sculptures are popular with tourists. It is believed that if a person tosses a coin so that it falls on the ledge next to Elisha or Vasilisa, then good luck will surely await him.
Experiments on cats
Another monument to a cat in St. Petersburg can be seen in the courtyard of the main building of the local state university on Vasilyevsky Island. It was installed in 2002, and is called "Monument to the guinea cat".
The sculpture appeared on the initiative of students and teachers of the Department of Physiology and Anatomy. The author of the monument to the cat is Anatoly Dema. The sculpture is made of granite, mounted on a high pedestal.
This is a token of gratitude to all the laboratory cats who have brought invaluable benefits to humanity.
Girlfriend "Mitkov"
Another monument to a cat in St. Petersburg is associated with hooligan artists from the Mitki group. Interestingly, its author is also Vladimir Petrovichev. In 2005, the sculpture of a cat was presented to the leader of the creative association"Mitki" to Dmitry Shagin. The artists immediately dressed her up in their traditional vest and gave her a surname - Matroskina. She took a place of honor on the cornice of house No. 16 on Pravdy Street, where their workshop was located at that time.
The name was chosen for her at the competition. The Silence or Silence option won. When the Mitki club moved to a new location in 2007, the statue of the cat followed suit. Today it can be seen on a stand near the window of the second floor at 36 Marata Street. Now the artists' workshop is located there.
Cat Island
There is also a monument to a cat in St. Petersburg on Kanonersky Island near house number 24. In the courtyard of the port office there is a small sculpture - a cat dressed in trousers, a short raincoat and boots. The plump animal wears a checkered cap on its head.
Locals call it "The Cat on the Stone". In general, it serves as a reminder that this place used to have the Finnish name Kissaisaari, which literally translates into Russian as "cat island".
Cat Alabrys
Monuments to cats in Russia have been erected everywhere in recent years. In 2009, such a sculpture appeared in the capital of Tatarstan, near the Kazan Hotel. This is a metal monument, the height of which is three meters, and the width is less than a couple of tens of centimeters.
Its author is sculptor Igor Bashmakov. He claims that the famous mouse catcher Alabrys served as a prototype, thanks to which Kazan cats guard the Hermitage today.
The monument has a very interesting history. It is said that during a visit to Kazan, the Russian Empress Elizabeth I noticed that mice were almost completely absent in the city, which was not typical for other cities. She ordered to immediately bring cats and cats from Kazan to St. Petersburg so that they would catch all the mice in her imperial palace. They were even assigned to the civil service in the Life Guards, having been assigned a full-fledged content. Today it is believed that the descendants of those cats live in the Hermitage, now protecting works of art from mice and rats.
It is noteworthy that another monument to Alabrys has been erected in Kazan. It is located near Raifa Lake, near the walls of the monastery of the same name.
Cat Semyon
In 2013, a monument to the local coma Semyon was erected on the shore of Lake Semyonovskoye. According to the urban legend, one day he went with his masters to Moscow. In a huge metropolis, he quickly got lost. The owners searched for him for a long time, but as a result they despaired, deciding that he had disappeared forever.
Only the cat Semyon, who spent six years to get from Moscow to Murmansk and show up at the threshold of his native apartment, did not think so. How he managed to overcome two thousand kilometers, and even in the harsh northern climate, remains a mystery.
Whether this is true or not is not known for certain, but the residents of Murmansk convincingly tell this story to all visitors.
On Lizyukov Street
In 2003In 1999, a sculpture of a kitten from Lizyukov Street was opened in Voronezh. It happened in a solemn atmosphere, because the cartoon of the same name is familiar and loved by everyone.
Modern fairy tale by Vyacheslav Kotenochkin was released in 1988. It was a fascinating story about the kitten Vasily, who lived in Voronezh on Lizyukov Street. He constantly had to escape from stray dogs, so his main dream was to turn into an animal that everyone would be afraid of.
A crow helped him in this, with the help of which the kitten ended up in Africa in the body of a hippopotamus. There he met an elephant and other exotic animals, but was not happy with his new image. Longing for his homeland in distant Africa, he began to hang signs with the name of the street on the trees, just like in his Voronezh. When he met the sorceress crow again, he asked to be brought back.
The idea to create such a monument belongs to the editor-in-chief of the Molodoy Kommunar newspaper Valery M altsev, who was supported by his colleagues and the city administration. A competition for the best project was announced, the winner was the schoolgirl Irina Povarova, and her sketch was brought to life by the sculptor Ivan Dikunov, who was helped by his sons. In Voronezh, everyone is convinced that if you tickle a kitten by the heel, while making a wish, it will surely come true.
La Murka
From this article you will find out where the monuments to cats are located. Several sculptures of this animal were installed in Kaliningrad at once. Graceful monument weighing 20kilograms in 2010 appeared on the territory of the Fish Village.
The iron figurine was forged by the Frenchwoman Carole Teruze-Craverker, who has a blacksmith's profession that is unique for the fair sex. She became a participant in the ethnographic fair, which was held in Kaliningrad, and then made this sculpture. It took her only six hours to do this work, but it was not without the help of the masters of the Blacksmith's Yard. The townspeople were fascinated by this work of art, which was being born right in front of their eyes.
And in the central square of the city, a cat with sausages in its teeth can be seen on the roof of a Ukrainian cuisine restaurant called "Borscht and Salo".
Cat City
In terms of the number of monuments to cats, photos of which are in this article, the Kaliningrad region is generally among the leaders. One of the cities of the amber region, Zelenogradsk, located on the shores of the B altic Sea, simply considers this animal to be its symbol. Therefore, monuments to the mustachioed and striped are found at almost every step.
Most recently, a monument to the cats of Zelenogradsk appeared here. It represents the figure of a cat sitting in the window right at the crossroads, on Kurortny Prospekt. The main feature is that the sculpture almost constantly rotates around its axis. It has become a real decoration of the resort town.
Another plump cat is standing on the boardwalk, at the entrance to the pier. And now artists and sculptors are completing work on anotherproject. The new monument is planned to be erected in a public garden where local residents traditionally feed stray animals. It will be a large plate with fish a little less than a meter in diameter, around which life-size cats will sit. Animal lovers are expected to put food not on the lawn or tiles, but directly on the plate. Now work on the creation of this sculpture is already at the final stage.
Cat Vasily
In the courtyard of the Taganka House complex, you can see the most famous cat monument in Moscow. It is located at the intersection of Broshevsky Lane and Talalikhina Street. It is quite small (about a meter high), but, thanks to its originality, leaves no one indifferent.
This funny sculpture is loved by many Muscovites. Its prototype is one of the heroes of the famous cartoon "The Return of the Prodigal Parrot" - the cat Vasily. He is famous for his legendary phrase: "We are well fed here too."
In Moscow, the cat imposingly settled down not far from a picturesque flower bed. With one paw, he leans on the ground, and in the second he holds a sausage. It is known that the monument is one of the most unusual sculptures of the Russian capital, tourists and visitors are happy to take pictures next to it.
Many consider him a symbol of the Soviet era, in which cartoons were a vivid parody of the hard everyday life.
Car victims
"To cats and dogs injured by cars" -such an inscription adorns the monument to cats in Kostroma.
The sculpture weighs about a ton, designed by Andrey Lebedev. According to him, he had to review a lot of cartoons until he had this image. The work went on for more than a year, the monument was cast in bronze, and the pedestal was made of concrete.
As conceived by the authors, it is dedicated to all animals that have been in accidents. A piggy bank is installed next to the cat, in which anyone can leave a donation. The money will go to help injured animals to a charity.
Siberian cats
You can find a whole cat park in Tyumen. It is located in the area of Pervomaiskaya street. Once there was an inconspicuous alley here, and now locals and tourists admire the beauty and grace of Siberian cats.
The composition consists of twelve sculptures. They were cast from cast iron, and then covered with a special paint. The author of the project is Marina Alchibaeva. The square was opened in 2008 to coincide with the City Day.
The composition was directly connected with the siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. Cats, in order to save the Northern capital from rats, were then collected throughout the country. Siberian cats took an active part in saving Leningrad food. Police officers caught homeless animals along the streets of Tyumen, some residents of the city themselves brought their pets to the collection point. In total, five thousand Siberian cats and cats were collected then.
Irkutsk cat
Another cat park exists on the territorycity of Irkutsk. This is how the walking area at the intersection of Gorky and Marat streets was named. According to local media, this project was sponsored by the Podem financial company, whose windows just overlook the square, which once looked unkempt and ugly.
It was decided to make a cat, a symbol of peace and home comfort, its main decoration. Under her image there is an inscription that says that this sculpture is dedicated to all the inhabitants of Irkutsk and the cats of this city.
Tourists liked the new attraction very much, and among the local girls, a belief immediately appeared that only frivolous young men are able to make a date in this square. After all, a cat is an animal that walks by itself. Therefore, if a young man offers to meet in this place, it is considered that his intentions are not serious, many simply do not come on such dates.
But lovers of luck are actively rubbing the nose, tail and ears of a cat sculpture. The bronze monument was erected relatively recently, in September 2012. But during this time, many residents of Irkutsk and visitors can already see pictures with him, who immediately rush to this attraction.
