The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
Shanghai Museum lets 200 cats visit its Egypt show each Saturday
Bastet's sacred animals got their own museum nights: ten sold-out events where visitors toured with their pet cats.
Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆)
What it had to solve
Shanghai Museum's 'On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt' exhibition was a record-scale loan show, and its 'Secrets of Saqqara' galleries held relics of Bastet, the cat-headed goddess of protection. Shanghai has more than 1.2 million pet cats, and the museum saw a way to fuse ancient cat worship with contemporary pet culture — if the logistics could be made safe.
How it works
Shanghai Museum's ancient Egypt exhibition was built around the cat: the Saqqara galleries displayed relics of Bastet, the cat-headed goddess, and the city itself is home to more than 1.2 million pet cats. The museum's idea was to give contemporary cat owners what the Egyptians gave Bastet — a place of their own inside the exhibition.
From 27 July 2024, ten Saturday-night 'Museum Cat Nights' each let 200 visitors tour the show accompanied by their own pet cats. The gallery became a cat sanctuary with paw-print floor markers, cat sounds, animated cat shadows and a shrine area for photos, while Ctrip ran themed interactive zones. Supporting the animals were cat strollers, a holding area, pet insurance, on-site vets, cat handlers and full disinfection after every event.
The formula worked as spectacle and as logistics: cat-entry tickets sold out in one second and all ten nights' passes were gone within an hour. The exhibition eventually drew 2.77 million visitors and 760 million yuan in revenue, and the cat-night series collected a jury Grand Prix at the Tiger Roar Awards, cementing the museum's reputation for making artefacts feel contemporary.
Why it lands
- Ancient cat worship and modern pet culture shared one symbol, so the event did not invent a hook — it activated a connection that already existed.
- Capping each night at 200 cats protected the animals and the artworks, making the impossible-sounding format genuinely safe and repeatable.
- The full safety system — vets, handlers, strollers, disinfection — turned a gimmick into a credible museum service and opened the door for pet-friendly institutions.
- Selling through Ctrip linked the museum to the travel platform's audience and infrastructure, turning a cultural event into bookable tourism product.
What it did
Tickets sold through Ctrip sold out instantly: the first cat-entry pass was gone in one second and all ten nights' cat passes within an hour. The show went on to draw 2.77 million visitors and 760 million yuan in exhibition revenue by the time of its awards in 2026, and 'Museum Cat Night' took the jury Grand Prix plus a gold and a silver at the 17th Tiger Roar Awards, along with Ctrip's global award for tourism innovation.
What you can take
When an exhibition's ancient story has a modern twin, build the ritual that lets the audience bring that twin inside.
Since then
The ten cat nights ran through 2024 inside the Egypt exhibition, which continued into 2025 with themed cruises, cross-city events and a closing week of round-the-clock opening. By 2026 the museum reported 2.77 million visitors, 760 million yuan in exhibition revenue and an estimated 35 billion yuan in wider city consumption. The cat nights took the jury Grand Prix plus gold and silver at the 17th Tiger Roar Awards and Ctrip's tourism innovation award, becoming a template for turning a collection into a cultural event.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card