“Shoes speak louder than words,” Sonja Bata mused. Here at the Bata Shoe Museum, we celebrate this very notion. Sonja Bata’s passion for footwear began in the 1940s. It blossomed as she traveled the world with her husband, Thomas J. Bata.
Mr. Bata attended business meetings for the Bata Shoe Company. Mrs. Bata sought out traditional footwear. By the late 1970s, her private collection had outgrown her storage space. The Bata family established the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation. This organization was dedicated to footwear research. It provided a place for Mrs. Bata to share her beloved shoes.
The Bata Shoe Museum’s current location opened in May 1995. Raymond Moriyama designed the building. It resembles an open shoe box. This reflects the museum’s role as a container of history. The Bata Shoe Museum holds over 12500 pairs of shoes. They span 4500 years of history. This makes it the world’s largest footwear collection.
The Bata Shoe Museum’s tagline is “For the Curious”. The comprehensive collection includes 16th-century Venetian velvet platforms. It also features Elvis Presley’s famous blue suede shoes. Exhibitions have included Thierry Agnone’s paper shoes. Others include “The Charm of Rococo: Femininity and Footwear of the 18th Century”. Also “Bound for Glory: Cutting-Edge Winter Sports Footwear”.
Mrs. Bata believed her shoe collection was about history. It was more than mere aesthetics. Each exhibit tells a story about the region the shoes came from. Shoes reveal simple truths. These truths include a region’s climate and period style. Chronologically viewed, they signify society’s shifts in technology. They also show changes in attitudes and values.
The Bata Shoe Museum building spans 3665 square meters. It is located at the corner of Bloor and St. George Streets. The museum’s collection began with Sonja Bata’s personal items. She started collecting in the mid-1940s. In 1979, she created the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation.
The foundation’s aim was to professionally manage the collection. It also aimed to establish a shoe museum. The foundation first exhibited the collection publicly in 1992. The Bata Shoe Museum has one permanent exhibition. It is called “All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages”. Three other galleries host temporary exhibitions.
As of April 2018, the Bata Shoe Museum’s permanent collection held over 13000 shoes. It also had related items dating back 4500 years. It is the largest collection of footwear in the world. The Bata Shoe Museum collection includes footwear from virtually every culture. You can see French chestnut-crushing boots. You can also view delicately embroidered Chinese silk shoes. Bear fur shoes made for Japanese samurai warriors are also here. You can even find footwear made from human hair.
The Bata Shoe Museum’s oldest European footwear is a pair of sandals. A shepherd wore them in the Tyrolian Alps around 5200 BP. The oldest pair of shoes from the Americas is Anasazi. These are made from yucca fibers. The museum holds shoes worn by celebrities. These include Queen Victoria, Robert Redford and Elton John. Terry Fox, Elvis Presley and John Lennon also feature.
The Bata Shoe Museum is more than a display of footwear. It is a journey through time. Each shoe whispers stories of culture, innovation and the human experience. We hope you leave with a deeper understanding. Understand the world beneath your feet.