Bata Shoe Museum
The Bata Shoe Museum is a shoe museum in the Canadian city of Toronto . The museum opened on May 6, 1995 in a building located on Bloor Street West on the corner of St. George Street in downtown Toronto.
Museum building
The museum building in the shoe box design was designed in the style of deconstructivism by the Japanese-Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama. Since the opening, exhibitions have been presented several times a year on two floors. The permanent collection, lecture halls and a museum shop are located on the ground floor and basement.
Foundation and Collection
In 1979 Sonja Bata, wife of CEO Thomas J. Bata, founded the Bata Shoe Foundation as an international cultural and scientific center for shoe studies in view of her sprawling shoe collection. From 1979 to 1985 the collection was on display in the offices of Bata Limited in the Don Milles area of Toronto. From June 1992 to November 1994 the collection was housed in the portico of an office and retail complex in downtown. The collection has been expanded further and has been on display in the museum's own building since 1995. It comprises over 12,500 artefacts (shoes and related objects) from over 4500 years of human history and from different cultures and regions. The foundation also publishes academic publications on the subject of shoes.
The stock includes, among other things, special shoes for mowing grass, cutting trees, chopping chestnuts , for rice farmers , snow and ice , raftsmen , fishermen , knights , priests , smugglers , dancers , athletes , prisoners and the moon walk . The shoe collection also includes North American moccasins , prima ballerina shoes , Ferragamo creations, pressure-regulated rubber boots , overshoes , magic shoes, cowboy boots , accessories and shoe art, satin shoes by Queen Victoria , Elizabeth Taylor's evening sandals made of ice-cream leather , Elton John's rhinestone platform shoes , the Beatles boots, Nurejews Dance shoes and the lacquer slippers from Elvis Presley .
Web links
- Web presence of the Bata Shoe Museum
- Bata Shoe Museum. Project at the architect Raymond Moriyama (English)
Coordinates: 43 ° 40 ′ 2 " N , 79 ° 24 ′ 1" W