Photo: Jan Kaliba, Czech Radio
Whether you are a shoe junkie or a history buff, this is a place that will stop you in your tracks. The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto is the largest museum in the world entirely dedicated to the culture, traditions and styles of footwear.
Created in 1995 by the family of the Czech-born shoe mogul Thomas Bata, the museum exhibits every kind of shoe made by man in different parts of the world over the centuries – from Egyptian footwear dating back 4,500 years to huge size 56 basketball shoes from giant Shaquille O’Neal.
Most of the exhibits come from the private collection of Sonja Bata, President of the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation and wife of Thomas J. Bata, President of the Bata company and son of the founder Thomas Bata.
The museum, designed by architect Raymond Moriyama, is located in the heart of the Canadian metropolis and is visited annually by over 100,000 visitors from all over the world.
In addition to a permanent exhibition, it offers three temporary exhibitions which are dedicated to showcasing different themes.
See the rest here.
Author: Jan Kaliba