World's Top 13 Greatest (Designer) Shoe Museums

13 Greatest Shoe Museums in the World

• Europe's oldest shoe found in Spanish bat cave - "Scientists say they have identified Europe's oldest shoes, sandals woven from grass thought to be around 6,000 years old. Low humidity and cool winds in the cave kept them unusually well-preserved."



• BATA SHOE MUSEUM - since 1995. World’s largest - and best - shoe museum (Toronto, Canada). The museum collects, researches, preserves, and exhibits footwear from around the world. It offers four exhibitions, three of which are time-limited; lectures; performances; and family events. The collection contains over 13,500 items from throughout history, as well as the present. It is the only museum in North America dedicated solely to the history of footwear. 327 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1W7, Canada.
• DUTCH SHOE MUSEUM - "In the Dutch Leather & Shoe Museum the shoe industry, contemporary design and technology are brought together. In addition to a permanent collection, the museum also showcases changing exhibits. A visit to the museum will leave you amazed at the versatility of designs and styles of such an everyday item as the shoe." Raadhuisplein 1, 5141 KG Waalwijk, The Netherlands.
• GERMAN SHOE MUSEUM - "Shoe. Design through the Ages." The STEP BY STEP: Shoe.Design through the Ages exhibition is based on the German Leather Museum’s unique shoe collection and is firmly centered around shoes, their design, and their cultural significance. Historical exhibits are deliberately combined with items from the second half of the 20th or the 21st centuries in order to highlight and reveal continuities and changes in the development of shoes and shoe design. In a total of eight thematic areas, basic types such as sandals, slippers, low shoes and boots are explained and questions raised: How does a shoe develop? Since when have we distinguished between right and left shoes? What materials are used to make shoes? Why do we recognize designer shoes today? What is the cultural significance of certain types of shoes? How have heels developed and what are the erotic connotations of specific models? Over 15,000 artefacts. Frankfurter Str. 86, 63067 Offenbach am Main, Germany.
• GIANT SHOE MUSEUM - Actual real GIANT SHOES on display. The Museum displays part of the collection of Danny Eskenazi, who became obsessed with giant shoes after he’d learned that his grandfather had once owned a wingtip worn by Robert Wadlow, the world’s tallest man. 85 Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98101, U.S.A.
• International Wooden Shoe Museum Eelde - museum in Eelde, the Netherlands, for clogs, clog-making equipment and machinery. It has the largest collection of wooden footwear in the world.
• MARIKINA SHOE MUSEUM - "Home of the World's Largest Shoe" and recipient of 749 pairs of shoes donated by former first lady Imelda Marcos. The museum holds shoes of several famous people including a pair of shoes from each president of the Philippines in chronological order. Other shoes note worthing are those of celebrities, ambassadors, political figures and even traditional shoes from several countries. Shoes both made in Marikina and made abroad with different brands, styles, shapes and colors are all on display. A huge portrait of Imelda is also hanging above serving as a mini-shrine for her shoe collection below. 315, 1800 J. P. Rizal St, Marikina, 1800 Metro Manila, Philippines.
• Museo Rossimoda della calzatura - (Rossimoda Museum of the Shoe) is located in the town of Stra in the Province of Venice, Italy. The Museum houses more than 1,500 models from fashion designers all over the world.
• Northampton Museum & Art Gallery - since 1865. "Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is home to one of the largest collections of shoes and shoe heritage in the world. Arts Council England designates the collection as being of local, national and international importance." The collection's strength lies in its very broad range, from ancient Egypt to the latest fashions, from workwear to high-end designer creations and from Northamptonshire-made shoes to footwear from around the world. Our shoes are defined by the people that wear them. We tell these footwear stories. The collection contains: More than 15,000 shoes. 4-6 Guildhall Rd, Northampton NN1 1DP, U.K.
• Salvatore Ferragamo Museum - since 1995. Florence, Italy. "Museo Salvatore Ferragamo is a company museum dedicated to the history of the Ferragamo company, the life of its founder and his creations." The museum contains 10,000 models of shoes created and owned by Ferragamo from the 1920s until his death in 1960.
• SONS | SHOES OR NO SHOES - since 2005. "Almost every human being owns a pair in one or another execution. On the one hand this universal object leads a visitor of SONS through all ethnic cultures and peoples, from the first foot-covered footsteps of humans till today. On the other hand through the world of modern art, highlighted out of a surprising perspective." Specializes in ethnographic shoes, or shoes with special cultural significance. On 19 September 2006, The Guinness Book Of World Records confirmed that William "Boy" Habraken collected the largest collection of tribal and ethnographical shoes in the world. The museum houses this collection and a design collection of known shoe designers such as André Perugia, Salvatore Ferragamo, Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik. Vandevoordeweg 2, 9770 Kruisem, Belgium.
• THE SHOE MUSEUM - Street, Somerset, England. Exhibits shoes dating from the Roman era to the present day. The museum includes the first clogs worn by Gracie Fields and the wedding shoes of Diana, Princess of Wales. England exhibited shoes dating from the Roman era to the present day. The museum closed on 27 September 2019, and its artefacts will be transferred to the nearby Alfred Gillett Trust. 40 High St, Street BA16 0EQ, U.K.
• TUSPM SHOE MUSEUM - since 1976. At Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Includes roughly 900 pairs of shoes, 250 of which are on display on the sixth floor of the TUSPM main building. The displays focus on the question of why people wear shoes. 148 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia PA 19107, U.S.A.
• VIRTUAL SHOE MUSEUM - Initiated by Liza Snook in 2004. "The VirtualShoeMuseum aims to present Shoes and its designers in a new and fresh environment, focused on exploration, surprise and awe." As of May 19, 2023: 2556 shoes. Columbusstraat 108, 2561 AR Den Haag, The Netherlands.