Exhibition “In Our Apartment: Dogs and a Cat — Pets of S.M. Kirov”

About exhibition

Today there is a genuine cult of pets around the world. But how did Leningraders keep cats and dogs 100 years ago? The living conditions for animals in a large city differed sharply from our present-day reality: in Leningrad it was possible to keep dogs, cats and even chickens. At the same time there was a local tax on household pets, dogs had to be registered, and a purebred animal could be confiscated to cover arrears for unpaid taxes. These issues were overseen by the head of the Leningrad party organization, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the VKP(b), S.M. Kirov, who loved outings into nature and was formerly an avid hunter. Little known are the details about his household pets: in apartment No. 20, together with S.M. Kirov and his wife M.L. Markus, lived three hunting dogs, a cat, goldfish and even mirror carp. The latter were presented to Kirov by workers as proof that Leningrad was capable of coping with the fish shortage. At the exhibition within the walls of S.M. Kirov’s memorial apartment, visitors will see museum installations, multimedia projections, authentic objects and documents from the S.M. Kirov collection of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg (GMI SPb), revealing the topic of keeping household animals in a big city and people’s attitudes toward pets a century ago. The special atmosphere of the exhibition will be supported by a specially recorded audio play.