Bata Shoe Museum, Footwear museum in Toronto, Canada
The Bata Shoe Museum is a footwear museum in Toronto, Canada, housing more than 13,000 pairs of shoes from different time periods and cultures. The limestone building was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama and resembles a tilted shoebox in its shape.
Sonja Bata started collecting shoes in 1946, and her private collection grew over decades through travel and targeted acquisitions. The museum opened to the public in May 1995 in a purpose-built structure.
The museum takes its name from the Bata family, who built a global footwear company, and its collection shows everyday and ceremonial shoes from different cultures around the world. Visitors can see traditional moccasins, ritual sandals, and decorated boots that people wore across centuries in their daily lives.
The building stands at the southwest corner of St. George Street and Bloor Street West, near the northwest edge of the University of Toronto's St. George campus; St. George is the closest subway station. The entrance is a glass wall protruding from the limestone facade. Inside, three sections run east to west across five floors, two of them below ground, linked by a central stairwell.
The building stands on a site that held a gas station before the museum opened on 6 May 1995. In January 2006, a pair of jewel-encrusted Indian majori slippers worn by Sikandar Jah was stolen along with a gold anklet and toe ring, then recovered weeks later.
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