Anastasia is still living the palace life.
The community cat found herself in the middle of an uproar after staff at the Rector’s Palace, a historic site in Dubrovnik, Croatia, kicked her off the palace grounds which had been her home for 17 years.
In 2021 staff at the Rector’s Palace, a six-century-old structure which is now a museum, said Anastasia’s little nook, with food and water bowls on top of cardboard, was an eyesore and wanted her gone.
They took away her belongings in May, prompting local carpenter Srdjan Kera to build a beautiful wooden cat house that mimicked the color and architectural details of the palace, giving Anastasia a dwelling that would shield her from the elements as well as blend in with the historic building’s facade.
But palace staff wouldn’t accept the compromise and had the wooden home removed, sparking an outcry among Dubrovnik’s locals and tourists. A petition demanding Anastasia be allowed to stay was signed by more than 12,000 people — a figure greater than the number of people who voted for the city’s mayor, representing more than a fourth of the city’s population.
The furor died down and there hasn’t been much news since then, but Mark Thomas, editor of the English-language Dubrovnik Times, told PITB Anastasia is back at the Rector’s Palace and basking in her fame.
“She doesn’t have her fancy home that was built for her,” the U.K. expat told us, “but rather her spot on a piece of cardboard. She is well fed and seems to be more than happy and enjoying having her photo taken with tourists.”
Thomas said he’d last seen Anastasia just a few days ago in her usual stomping grounds at the palace.
It seems odd that staff at the palace wanted her gone because they found her original nook unsightly, then removed the aesthetically pleasing cat house created by Kera only to go back to the old cardboard arrangement, but we’re glad the senior kitty isn’t subjected to the stress of being forcibly moved from the only home she’s ever known.
Previously, staff at the Rector’s Palace said Anastasia didn’t need her shelter all year round, so perhaps they’ve come to a compromise and will allow it during the winter. Dubrovnik enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate, with temperatures bottoming out at about 50ºF (10ºC) in January, its coldest month, but while the city remains temperate, it experiences significantly more rain in the winter months.
Pain In The Bud 
The lovingly designed and built shelter was an eyesore? I guess a scrap of cardboard is more appealing? What a bunch of idiots.
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Apparently they felt the original cardboard arrangement was an eyesore, which prompted the carpenter to make the custom house, which he thought would solve the problem. But the museum’s operators found other reasons and had the wooden house removed.
So now it’s back to cardboard, which suggests the museum staff wanted to get rid of the cats in general and didn’t really care about aesthetics. Anastasia isn’t the only cat there, but she’s the most famous and probably the longest-tenured of the museum cats. There are even local street cat tours in Dubrovnik’s old walled city.
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I hope someone makes a big stink about this. The museum staff seem to be cat haters. The only way to change their minds will come from tourists and locals putting pressure on them.
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Wow!! Seriously?!! I wish i had that eyesore for my feral cat.
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Right? That’s a sweet cat house. It’s even got her name engraved in a steel plaque above the entrance.
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I hope that Srdjan Kera’s lovingly constructed shelter will reappear for the rainy winter. The palace management could learn from other countries how great an attraction animals can be.
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A great example is the late Gli, the most famous of the cats at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. President Obama stopped to give her some pets when he visited Istanbul in 2009, and thousands of people have taken photos of and selfies with her.
https://littlebuddythecat.com/2020/07/24/istanbuls-favorite-cat-isnt-getting-kicked-out-of-her-home/
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This stinkss!! To High Heaven!! What has Anastasia efurr dun to anyone? Nothin!
An aftur THE nice man Srdjan Kera made such a beeuteefull cathouse those Hu’manss tooked it away?!?!?!
Buddy an Big buddy mee has H-Bee-O werdss mee iss thinkin…..mee not meow them…..
At leest Anastasia still ahs her so-called home!
Sum Hu’manss STICK!!! 😦
angry **purrss** BellaDharma an BOO’SS BellaSita Sistur
Pee S: Wee NOT angry with eether of youss’! Yore THE BEST!
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We all have a brain but it would seem the powers that be don’t use theirs. What a great attraction she would be to the tourists. Beautiful girl.
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