Checking out ‘University Cats’ in the University Museum Groningen

From Tuesday 18 December until Sunday 6 January, the University museum is putting on a special exhibition about university cats. These are cats that live close to universities or campuses and spend their days wandering around the buildings and classrooms. The reason for this exhibition? The UG’s own university cat, Prof. Doerak, recently received his own UG student card.

‘Doerak doesn’t belong to the University, of course, but he has become part of our community. The students, lecturers and professors who study and work in the Harmony Building know the fluffy cat particularly well. So three weeks ago he received his own student card and rightly so! We found this so funny that we decided to set up an exhibition about university cats, because Doerak is definitely not the only one! It will definitely be a fun day out during the winter holidays,’ says Museum Director Arjen Dijkstra.

Worldwide

After an appeal by the University Museum’s social media platforms, photos of academic cats from across the globe were sent in. Photos of Carlton from Canada, Rolf from England and Èr Pàng from China, among others, will hang next to those of Prof. Doerak. Photos were also sent in from Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Turkey, Germany, Scotland and the United States. The Museum will also focus on university cats by exhibiting various objects about cats in science, in general and related to the history of the University of Groningen.

In short

• What: ‘University Cats’ exhibition
• Where: University Museum, Oude Kijk in ’t Jatstraat 7a, 9712 EA Groningen
• When: Between 18 December and 6 January 2019 – the exhibition will be opened on Tuesday 18 December!