A red cat named John Pierpont Morgan inspired an Amsterdam canal-house museum devoted to cats in art. The house itself dates to the seventeenth century, so the visit links a private memorial to a playful collection spanning paintings, prints, and sculpture.
Quick facts
The canal house at Herengracht 497 was built in 1667 for Willem and Adriaen van Loon.
Bob Meijer founded the museum in 1990 in memory of his cat John Pierpont Morgan.
The collection includes paintings, drawings, posters, and sculptures featuring cats.
Get directions to The Cat Cabinet. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Guide
At Herengracht 497, the cats are not confined to the pictures. They are also the reason this seventeenth-century canal house became a museum. The Cat Cabinet—Kattenkabinet in Dutch—began as a memorial to one red tomcat, then grew into a collection tracing the many ways artists have watched, loved, teased, and transformed cats. Look from the artworks to the rooms around them: this visit is as much about a house’s changing interiors as it is about feline art.
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