La Maison du Chat — the Cat House — stands on the corner of the Rue des Augustins and the Place du Marché, an otherwise unremarkable 17th-century townhouse marked by a single curious detail: a small stone cat perched permanently on the roof, staring out across the rooftops of the old town.
No one knows why the cat is there. Local guides offer several theories — a private joke between owner and architect, a memorial to a beloved pet, a charm against rats and bad luck — but all of them are guesses. The current cat is a replacement; the original, weathered down to a stump, sits in the Musée d'Orbigny-Bernon. Look up as you walk past. Children love this one.