Free evenings at the Bata Shoe Museum

Bata Shoe Museum

An unusual idea for a museum collection, but the international variety housed in this museum near the University of Toronto is vast and fascinating, ranging from the fantastical to the practical. If clothes make the man (or woman), then surely we can learn much from his or her footwear.The museum began as a personal passion for shoes. Sonja Bata has been collecting shoes of every flavour since the 1940's and in 1979 her collection had grown too large for her own private storage space. So the Bata family established the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation and in 1995 the shoes moved to their current home at 327 Bloor St. W.The museum houses a variety of collections including shoes worn by North American Indigenous people, shoes representing every age of Western fashion, shoes from every corner of the world and even shoes from the 'Walk of Fame' worn by everyone from John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe to Donovan Bailey and Pablo Picasso.Shoes have always reflected something of the wearer's culture, social status, age, affiliation and needs. This collection, housed in an architecturally-unique building, includes more than 10,000 shoes, boots and sandals spanning 4,500 years and thousands of stories -- stories of vanity, practicality, and a touch of mad vision.Getting There:St. George St. exit of St. George subway station.

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