We are all fans of the occasional weird and wonderful museum and De Kattenkabinet in Amsterdam is one not to miss. Rosie Khdir discovers the Cat Cabinet, a museum dedicated to our feline friends.

In the most unsuspecting part of Amsterdam, in the more financial oriented district, lies a charming museum with a rather unusual subject – cats.

The Cat Cabinet is a museum that specialises in the display of cat themed art. The small museum, situated in an old residence at the Herengracht, was set up by William Meijer in 1990 in memory of his cat Tom Cat John Pierpont Morgan, named after the American financier.

The museum has an impressive collection of cat-related paintings, drawings and even a unique dollar bill that was created especially for J. P. Morgan (the cat). On his 15th birthday a single edition of a dollar bill was printed and adapted so that Washington’s portrait looked like J. P. Morgan and instead of “In God we trust” it reads “We trust no dogs”.

Here, many quirky pieces of art are mixed with the more well known from a Toonders Studio’s cartoon of Tom Poes to a photograph of the famous writer Truman Capote and his cat. There is also a Picasso original entitled Le Chat displayed in the museum.

Among the sculptures, posters, cartoons and books you may see the whip of real furry tail – don’t worry you are not hallucinating – the museum has five friendly resident felines!

Not only will you be entertained by the comically serious nature of the exhibits you can also enjoy the splendor of the house itself, with its decorated galleries, crystal chandelier, library and the beautiful painted ceiling in the music room.

The museum is easy to get to; visitor can get the tram to Koningsplein and it is only a few minutes’ walk from there. It really is a must for cat lovers!

Amsterdam is just a short drive from the International port of Rotterdam which is serviced by P&O Ferries’ Hull – Rotterdam route.

Image credit: Môsieur J. [version 3.0b]

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