Description of the attraction
The monument to the Cat Kazansky is located on the pedestrian street Bauman, near the historical building of the Kazan hotel, in the center of Kazan. The monument appeared in 2009.
The monument is a sculptural and architectural composition. She depicts a well-fed cat lying in a gazebo on an ottoman. The gazebo has a hipped roof. On the roof there is a spire in the shape of a mouse juggling a ball. The composition is cast from aluminum and processed to look silver. The inscription is engraved at the base of the monument: "Kazan cat: Astrakhan mind, Siberian mind …"
A sculptural composition was made in the town of Zhukovsky at an enterprise engaged in artistic casting. The author of the monument is a Kazan sculptor, master of metalwork I. Bashmakov. The cost of the monument is about a million rubles. The monument was erected at the expense of entrepreneurs, sponsors and the city administration.
Kazansky the cat is not a fictional character. During her visit to Kazan, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna noted the absence of mice in Kazan. By order of Elizaveta Petrovna, in October 1745, 30 Kazan cats were sent to St. Petersburg. The cats were assigned to the Life Guards Service and put on allowance. They successfully coped with the capture of mice, which bred in large numbers in the Winter Palace. In the 17-19th centuries, the collective image of the Kazan cat - the cat "Alabrys", became widespread (especially in the works of popular prints).
By the way, the descendants of Kazan cats live up to now in the St. Petersburg Hermitage and contribute to the preservation of museum exhibits. The Hermitage has a fund of cats' friends. Every year on April 1, the museum staff arrange a holiday for cats with a lot of food - "Day of the March cat".
It was this story that pushed the sculptor and the city administration to create the architectural composition "Kazansky Cat". It has become an adornment of the pedestrian street and a landmark of the city.
