Cats Take a Tour of Ancient Egypt at Chinese Museum
01:58
4 янв. 2025 г., 2:00
01:58
4 янв. 2025 г., 2:00
Описание
Ancient Egyptians loved and respected cats, believing they brought good luck.
Some families even dressed their cats in jewelry, and mummified them after death. They would mourn the death of their cat by shaving off their eyebrows, and continue to mourn until their eyebrows grew back.
Inspired by this ancient love for cats, the Shanghai Museum in China held a special event called Meowseum Nights.
Held 10 times during last summer and fall, the event invited 200 cats and 2,000 people to explore the exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt.
Some of the artifacts shown in the exhibition came from a temple discovered years ago in Egypt. The temple was for Bastet, an Egyptian goddess who could change into a cat. This gave the Shanghai Museum another reason to use cats as the theme for their event.
Museum director Chu Xiaobo said that the event was created to bring cat lovers to the museum, as in Shanghai, where there are over a million pet cats, cat-friendly public spaces are rare.
"There are dog parks, dog brunches, but not that much for cat parents to do with their pets," Wen Liuli, a visitor to the exhibition, told The Art Newspaper.
The museum took measures to keep all visitors and artifacts safe. Cats had to stay in strollers or bags, but there were certain areas where people could take their cats out for photos, such as in front of a statue of Bastet. All the other artifacts were kept behind glass.
The museum also had vets, doctors, and even an ambulance on-site, and over 80 animal welfare workers attended each night to help and give advice.
While the museum doesn't plan to hold another Meowseum Night, Chu hopes it might inspire other museums to try similar ideas.
"Cat people now have a special affection for the Shanghai Museum," he said.