UPDATE, 8/7/2022: Anastasia has been allowed back on the palace grounds, but without the custom shelter a Dubrovnik carpenter built for her. Click here to read our latest story about Anastasia’s saga.
Original text:
In a city that stood in as a filming location for King’s Landing in the hugely popular series Game of Thrones, it was only fitting that a regal cat named Anastasia would choose a palace as her home.
Anastasia chose the Rector’s Palace, a historic building in Dubrovnik, Croatia, as her royal abode, and she’s become a local fixture there for the past 17 years, a familiar feline face appreciated by locals and tourists alike.
People who run shelters in the city of 42,000 have tried to find a home for Anastasia in the past, but she always returns to the Rector’s Palace, so a group of volunteers set up a small cardboard shelter for her on the grounds.
But the snooty museum authority didn’t like the little dwelling and had it removed in May of 2021. In response a local woodworker named Srdjan Kera built a beautiful wooden cat house for Anastasia that combines elements of the palace’s gothic and baroque architecture, boasts a distressed finish that matches the five-century-old building’s facade, features a velvet bed for its resident feline princess, and even has a golden nameplate with “Anastasia” etched into the metal. (Spelled Anastazija in Croatian.)
The little cat palace blends right in under the larger palace’s arcade and even emulates the stonework patterns, but the people who run the museum authority still weren’t impressed and earlier this month ordered the eviction of Anastasia for a second time.
(Credit: Videographer Zvonimir Pandža, clip courtesy of DuList. Click through to see more photos of Anastasia, her local admirers in Dubrovnik and her beautiful cat palace by Srdjan Kera.)
“The opinion of the Dubrovnik Museums is still the same,” the museum authority’s leadership wrote. “The cat house has no place in front of the Rector’s Palace, be it a cardboard box or a stylized dwelling. We emphasize that no one has anything against the cats that stay here for many years and which until recently had no housing,”
The people of Dubrovnik aren’t having it. A petition to return Anastasia to her rightful palatial place has garnered more than 12,000 signatures, a huge number for such a small city. In addition, some 90 percent of readers said they wanted Anastasia to stay at the palace when polled by a local newspaper.
“Anastasia needs her house! Give it back,” one local wrote on Facebook. “Apparently, cultural institutions are run by people without culture.”
Kera even told the museum’s leaders that he would pay a fine if it meant Anastasia could stay, pointing out that at her age, she needs a stable, stress-free existence.
“It’s her home,” Kera said. “We’re only talking about one cat, not 70 of them.”
Pain In The Bud 
The people have spoken and the museum needs to listen! Anastasia probably keeps the local rodent population down, an important asset to a museum.
Please keep us updated, Big Buddy!
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Same as the uk we call them woke brigade
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How dare they!! She probably has been there a lot longer than most of the employees. For God’s sake she’s nothing bothering a soul. Please leave her alone,at her age she probably doesn’t have much time left anyway. Shame on you for making her move the first time,let alone the second. Have some compassion for her please and leave her be.
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Mee-yow WOW!! THE ackshunss of those inn charge iss furry “Hiss-werthy” An let’tt throw inn sum scratchiess an a few biteyss two Buddy!
Seeresulee, Anastasia iss a lovelee old kitty girl an that iss her home.
Sumtiemss Hu’manss can bee so meen!!!!
**pixxed** BellaDharma an *sad* BellaSita Mum
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Considering the backlash, the number of signatures on the petition and all the media coverage, it’s clear the community wants her there and I’d be surprised if the museum’s board sticks to its decision.
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Thee Mew-seeum Peepss bettur give Anastasia her ritefull place back! Who inn their rite mind kickss a 17 yeer old cat out?? So wrong on efurry level!!!
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This is why we have war.
What is WRONG with people?
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Scum buckets!
How should they like to be kicked out of their homes when aged.
She requires but a small safe familiar space she considers home.💕🎇🐾
Shame on them!
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Especially since the woodworker went out of his way to match the exterior to the stonework of the palace, even repeating the same pattern that’s etched into the exterior under the arcade.
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This situation tells a-lot about the hearts of the “palace snobs”. When they go to their final destination, lets hope they get kicked out to their rightfully earned place.
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There hasn’t been much in the way of updates lately either, except for a bizarre AFP article about how Dubrovnik’s mayor doesn’t want the cat there either because she’s not fat enough. Strange town.
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Please let the kitty stay this is her home she is already advanced in age and only has a small amount of time left all the local people love her and it doesn’t cost you anything to keep her have a heart
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So horrible to do this it’s so sad you people don’t have a heart in your body’s just evil 💔 and cruel to do this to her 😢 I hope karma comes bk for you it will you see
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Hi Amanda: We’ve just published an update about Anastasia. The link at the top of this story will take you to the newest story, or you can click back to the homepage and you’ll see it there. Thanks.
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Give her her home back. How would you feel if you lost your home. She has been there for a long time. Kindness cost nothing.
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Hi Pauline: We’ve just published an update about Anastasia. The link at the top of this story will take you to the newest story, or you can click back to the homepage and you’ll see it there. Thanks.
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Please let Anastasia continue to stay in her car palace.
Be kind to the Lord’s Creatures please 🙏
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Hi Gopichandran: We’ve just published an update about Anastasia. The link at the top of this story will take you to the newest story, or you can click back to the homepage and you’ll see it there. Thanks.
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They should be very pleased to have her,she’s the soul of the museum. What a beautiful Box this man has built for her well done. Another beautiful soul.🐱💕
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Hi Julie: We’ve just published an update about Anastasia. The link at the top of this story will take you to the newest story, or you can click back to the homepage and you’ll see it there. Thanks.
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