World Art Utopia

Tombili

The bronze statue of Tombili, a cat reclining with its elbow on a stone block, on a pavement in Kadıköy, Istanbul.
Artwork FileIstanbul, Turkey

Tombili

SeenSep 2024

Seval Şahin · Güleç Çıkmazı, Ziverbey, Kadıköy, Istanbul

Sculpture by Seval Şahin. Photo: Painjet / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0), taken 29 September 2024. Tombili appears in Street Art Utopia (Still Getting Visitors (10 Photos), 31 October 2026) in another photo.

Tombili was a Kadıköy street cat famous for leaning against the curb like a person watching the street. After the cat died on 1 August 2016, about 17,000 people signed a campaign for a statue, and sculptor Seval Şahin volunteered to make one in bronze. It was unveiled on World Animal Day, 4 October 2016, on the spot where Tombili used to sit. Source Source Source Checked

Seen Sep 2024 — The newest dated photograph we found was taken on 29 September 2024 and shows the statue in place. Gazete Kadıköy reported on 7 December 2022 that it had been reinstalled after five years in storage. Source Source Checked

💡 4 things to know

  1. A campaign of 17,000Kadıköy Municipality says some 17,000 people signed the Change.org campaign for Tombili’s statue. Source Source Checked
  2. Made in bronzeŞahin modelled the cat in clay before it was cast in bronze, so that it would last outdoors. Source Checked
  3. Stolen and returnedThe statue was stolen on 7 November 2016 and put back in its place days later. Source Checked
  4. Five years in storageWhen the building it stood in front of went into urban renewal in 2017, the municipality removed and stored the statue; it was repaired and reinstalled in 2022. Source Checked

📍 Where it is

Güleç Çıkmazı in Ziverbey, Kadıköy, on Istanbul’s Asian side, on the pavement where Tombili used to sit. The map link searches for the street; we have no confirmed coordinates for the statue. Source Source Source Checked

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🗓️ Sightings

  1. 20164 Oct

    Unveiled on World Animal Day

  2. 201610 Nov

    Put back after theft

  3. 20227 Dec

    Reinstalled after five years

  4. 202429 Sep

    Statue photographed in Kadıköy

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

bianet4 October 2016

“The statue was first worked with mud and then bronze poured on it. The statue was to be placed in an open area so it had to be made of durable, permanent material because of some environmental impacts. That is why we decided to make it of bronze” (Seval Şahin)

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✅ The facts

Artist
Seval Şahin, who made it as a volunteer Source Source Source Checked
Subject
Tombili, a street cat of Ziverbey, Kadıköy, who died on 1 August 2016 Source Source Source Checked
Unveiled
4 October 2016, World Animal Day Source Source Checked
Material
Bronze Source Checked
Campaign
About 17,000 signatures on Change.org Source Source Checked
Theft
Stolen 7 November 2016, put back days later Source Checked
Removed
2017, for urban renewal; reinstalled 2022 Source Checked

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Last checked: 1 November 2026. How we verify art