Hundreds of Curious Cats Contemplated Ancient Egyptian Artifacts During a Series of 'Meowseum Nights' in China | Smithsonian

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Hundreds of Curious Cats Contemplated Ancient Egyptian Artifacts During a Series of 'Meowseum Nights' in China

For ten nights, animal lovers brought their furry friends to "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt" at the Shanghai Museum, where many examples of ancient cat imagery are on display

Julia Binswanger

Daily Correspondent

December 10, 2024 8:00 a.m.

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A cat in a stroller examines ancient Egyptian artifacts at the Shanghai Museum. Agatha Cantrill / AFP via Getty Images

Many pet owners may treat their cats as royalty, but the ancient Egyptians went one step further: They looked to felines as symbols of divinity.

To honor this history, the Shanghai Museum in China has been hosting "Meowseum Nights," during which visitors can bring their cats to the exhibition "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt."

The ten-night series, which ended this fall, was a hit. The museum released 200 bring-a-cat tickets (and 2,000 human tickets) for each event, all of which sold out.

In order to welcome cats to the show without causing chaos, workers made sure the museum was cat-proof, according to the Art Newspaper's Lisa Movius. Visitors were instructed to keep their cats in strollers or bags, and the majority of artifacts were behind protective glass.

A visitor and a cat inspect a display case at the "On Top of the Pyramid" exhibition. Zhang Hengwei / China News Service / VCG via Getty Images

The museum also had a veterinarian and doctor on site, as well as animal welfare representatives. Staffers from the Shanghai Small Animal Protection Base were ready with nets and gloves in case of an escape. While no cats were lost, about five or six got loose each night.

Still, for the museum's director, Chu Xiaobo, allowing visitors to bring their pets was worth all the extra effort.

"It's about being a museum for society," Chu tells the Art Newspaper. "We can't do this every day, but it was a valuable outreach: Cat people now have a special affection for the Shanghai Museum."

"On Top of the Pyramid" explores ancient Egyptian life and highlights recent archaeological discoveries. It features nearly 800 artifacts from various eras in Egyptian history, as Chu tells China Daily's Zhang Kun. Some of the artifacts on display are connected to a temple found several years ago in Saqqara dedicated to Bastet, an Egyptian goddess often depicted as a cat.

"Egyptian archaeological teams discovered a cat temple in Saqqara and unearthed many cat mummies and cat statues," Li Feng, the Shanghai Museum's deputy director, tells Reuters' Casey Hall and Xihao Jiang. "So when we were planning the event, we had cats as a theme, and then came the idea for 'Meow Night.'"

The museum allowed 200 cats to attend each of its "Meowseum Nights." Agatha Cantrill / AFP via Getty Images

While the "Meowseum Nights" have ended, the exhibition will continue to run through August of next year. In the meantime, cat lovers in the United States can check out "Cats: Predators to Pets" at the Field Museum in Chicago. While visitors can't bring their own animals, they can see cats that are available for adoption during special "Cat Café" events.

At the Shanghai Museum, guests said the show was a way to bond with their pet while celebrating cats' ancient history.

"In the modern world, kitties are a symbol of cuteness, which is very different from [ancient Egypt]," Feifei, a visitor to the museum, told Agence France-Presse earlier this year. Feifei brought her cat, Sticky Rice, to the exhibition. "There are many ancestors of cats here. I wanted to bring [Sticky Rice] to have a look."

"On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt" is on view at the Shanghai Museum in China through August 17, 2025.

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