The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada
Gallery on Style, Culture, and Evolution of Footwear of the World
Sep 25, 2009
Since its opening in 1995, the Bata Shoe Museum is a footwear aficionado’s dream come true as cultural and social evolutions are plotted through the soles of the shoes worn by everyone from farmers to royalty. In addition to the museum's display collection, the Bata Museum Foundation continuously researches, interprets, and preserves shoes from around the world, as well as funds field trips to far flung corners of the earth to study and gather specimens.
History of the Bata Shoe Museum
The museum collection began with Sonja Bata and her husband Thomas J. Bata of the Bata Shoe Company. Mrs. Bata began building up a collection of footwear from her travels, and it is these pieces that formed the original Bata Shoe Museum which was founded to house and research the footwear in 1979. Originally showcasing the shoes at the office of the Bata Shoe Company, the museum was established to house the ever-growing collection and opened to the public in a shoe-box inspired building designed by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama.
Bata Shoe Museum's Collections and Exhibitions
The Bata Shoe Museum is located at St. George and Bloor Streets in downtown Toronto and features four floors of footwear. Housing both permanent exhibitions and special time-limited exhibitions, the museum's main gallery features a look at the evolution of footwear. Entitled All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages, the exhibition showcases the growth of the shoe from its early foundations in ancient Egypt to the modern shoe.
Peppered with relics from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America, the gallery has several pieces of note including delicate Chinese slippers designed to fit women who practiced the traditional and painful foot binding techniques. Another eye-catching shoe is the chestnut crushing clog from 19th century France which has long serrated iron spikes to crack open the shell of a chestnut.
Chronicles of Riches: Treasures from the BataShoeMuseum
The other permanent collection on display is the Chronicles of Riches: Treasures from the Bata Shoe Museum which houses a vast assortment of shoes collected by Mrs. Bata on her travels. Here the gallery features examples from the storage vaults including Native American footwear, shoes worn by Queen Victoria, and a pair of Napoleon's silk socks. With two rotating exhibitions, there is always something new to see at the Bata Shoe Museum.
Temporary Exhibitions: Winter Sports and Native American Footwear
In 2009 and 2010, the current temporary exhibitions include Beauty, Identity, Pride: Native North American Footwear and Bound for Glory: Cutting-Edge Winter Sports Footwear. To coincide with the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the winter sports display features the footwear worn by medal-winners in Olympic competition as well as displays the evolution of the winter sports shoe including the ski boot, hockey skate, and figure skate. The museum also has an interactive Nintendo Wii display allowing for visitors to put themselves in the game virtually by testing their skill at downhill skiing and speed skating.
Beauty, Identity Pride: Native North American Footwear is a display focusing on the footwear of the Native American people. With different shoes and boots from various North American tribes, the exhibition also features interactive displays allowing visitors to touch the natural materials used in making the footwear, and to further explore the techniques used to make the shoes and boots by hand.
As one of Toronto’s premiere museums, the Bata Shoe Museum makes an excellent day trip for both residents and tourists alike, including families and school trips. Open seven days a week and closed only on Christmas Day and on Good Friday, allow approximately one and a half to two hours to explore the exhibits.
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