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Everything's Better With Kittens: Amsterdam's 'Kattenkabinet' Cat Artwork Museum

August 10, 2011 at 5:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

Welcome to Amsterdam Week here on Jaunted! Each day, we're coming at ya with a Double Dutch of features: two stories on a city (and its airport) that stuns with its beauty and nearly overwhelms with everything there is to do. Got any Amsterdam tips of your own? Share with us in the comments!

It is our conclusion that the internet needs more cat pictures, as does the world as a whole really. One place that totally agrees is Amsterdam's KattenKabinet, a mini-museum dedicated to artwork featuring and inspired by...cats. It's also a fun-to-say word.

You don't have to be a "cat person" to love this little slice of culture; Kattenkabinet is all Amsterdam, but without buslouds of tourists and with its sense of history intact. Still the rooms are filled with curiosities like a costume from the Broadway musical Cats, a ginormous painting depicting a cat-god/devil wreaking havoc (our favorite), and a specially-printed US dollar bill bearing the portrait of J.P. Morgan—though not Morgan the human captain of industry, but Morgan the owner's cat that inspired this entire place.

Gallery: In Amsterdam's KattenKabinet

The Kattenkabinet isn't your typical museum; it's a historical canal row house on Herengracht, with a first level given over to the artwork and antique splendor of the address, and a second level where the current owner, a descendent, still lives. With him are four real cats, who far prefer to nap in the cloakroom's pile of newspapers rather than perch on the upholstered formal fainting couch in the parlor.

Entrance is 6 Euro per person, and you're free to walk around the public areas of the KattenKabinet and enjoy unlimited actual cat pettings during your visit. The gift shop, though quite small, has an unparalleled variety of reprinted vintage ad posters for purchase (naturally all of them featuring cats or kittens). We're assuming you can't bring your own cat though...

Disclosure: We were a guest of Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (@VisitHolland) in Amsterdam, but all photos and opinions presented are completely our own.

[Photos: Cynthia Drescher for Jaunted]

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