Polleke, that’s the name of the six hundred year old mummy cat that was revealed on Wednesday in the Grote Kerk in Breda. Almost six hundred years ago, the cat was built in the wall of the church. The builders probably did that to protect the church and to hunt out angry spirits. A building sacrifice was called that. After many wanderings, the cat is now back in the church.
For centuries the cat lay between two walls on the north side of the church. The animal was found during construction work in 1906. Then he was without a trace for a long time. Until he appeared again five years ago.
In 2020, the Grote Kerk received a message from the Huys Foundation in Warmond near Leiden. The cat turned out to be there. The Grote Kerk did extensive research into the mummy cat, which even went under a special CT scanner. With over 95 percent certainty, it is to say that it is the same cat.
Primary school students were allowed to come up with a name for the animal. That was Polleke, conceived by Daan van den Muijsenberg. The name is based on the name of the builder of the church Jan van Polanen. Daan thinks the cat is crazy without fur. He thinks that he has extracted from more than eight hundred entries. “Yes, I won, but I am allergic to cats, so I have nothing to do with it.”
Director Marieke Wiegel of the Grote Kerk thinks the name Polleke is well chosen: “It is of course quite a bit of a scary beast. To make it a little less scary, Polleke is so sweet.”
Polleke does not complain about interest. Primary school children displace themselves to see the animal: “I find him a bit scary because it has dried completely,” says a girl. “His tail looks like a branch,” says a boy. A girl who is watching has a completely different picture of the cat: “I think it’s a dragon that lies in that coffin that has perished a bit. It’s freaky, but cool to see.”
Whether the cat is a cat or a hangover is unknown. Now that the cat is back, he gets a permanent place in the church in a display case.
