Museum Of Shoes, Looking At Canadian History Through Shoes

Da Finch once said that human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work full of art.

The shoes used to protect feet are naturally excellent works of artists.

There is one in Toronto, Canada.

It contains more than 12000 pairs of shoes, from the ancient Egyptian sandals to the delicate and luxurious Satin women's shoes in the Rococo Era, and to the recent collection in the museum, which has spanned thousands of years.

Too many shoes need regular exhibitions.

The beta shoe museum was built in 1995.

On the streets of downtown Toronto.

Logo at the gate of beta Shoe Museum

The first floor is a regular exhibition, with the theme of the history of shoes.

On the two and third floors there are Rococo shoes and collection exhibitions.

Because there are too many shoes, the museum will change the theme of the exhibition from time to time, so that tourists can explore the story behind each pair of shoes from different countries and different cultural backgrounds.

In the shoe historical exhibition hall on the ground floor of the museum, it tells the story of the intimate contact between human and shoes. A pair of shoes with different shapes and colors see the ups and downs of different dynasties on different parts of the earth.

It is reported that the oldest shoe in the museum is from the ancient Egyptian area. It was excavated from the large tombs of the kingdom of Thebes. It has been made from palm leaves and grass for three thousand or four thousand years.

Most of the ancient shoes collected by the museum thousands of years ago came from ancient Egypt and the Middle East, because these areas are relatively dry and their products are not easily corrupted, so they are also suitable for preserving shoes.

Most of the shoes displayed here are left behind by various ancient civilizations, many of which are not just worn, but sometimes they are symbols of religion and Wang Quan.

For example, there is a pair of boots made of colorful colored beads on the outside, the top is a human face, and two small birds are looking at it in the middle.

These boots are worn by leaders of the African Republic of Nu Lu, who are meticulously weaved not just for decoration, but for the symbol of the power of the leader.

It is also a symbol of rights.

In contrast to the shoes of the ancient civilization with a single color and a large grey and dark color, the charming Rococo feminist and shoes displayed on the two floor can be described as "dragons and Phoenix in shoes". The pair of shoes with exquisite luxury and bright colors can be seen in the magnificent French Palace of Versailles, where the ladies wear elegant dancing steps and skip over another gorgeous tango.

Rococo style shoes are usually made of lace and used for a large number of rolls, gold foil and so on.

By the end of the eighteenth Century, even high-grade metals, jewellery or synthetic diamonds were also used to add luster to shoes.

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These shoes are mainly high heels.

Ironically, after the French Revolution, some princes and nobles fell off their heads, and their shoes turned from gorgeous to simple and simple. From the vamp, those exquisite lace jewelry decorations and suede were gone. Instead of simple and plain cloth shoes, the frightening high heels had become completely flat bottomed.

"Spoon shoes" are used to show off family life.

The shoes on the third floor show different shapes and strange features. They are excellent products in the past few hundred years.

The most incredible pair of shoes comes from the shoes of Italy in sixteenth Century. This is a pair of high shoes. The shape of the whole shoe is like a spoon, the sole and the tip of the shoe are connected together to form the water holding part of the spoon, while the heel is located in a thin piece.

Actually, those who wear these shoes can't walk at all. They need two servants to help them.

It was a sign of wealth at that time, because only those with money and status could afford to hire servants.

So for shoes owners, wearing these shoes is just a show of family life.

Shoes record social development

There are many treasures in the museum.

Such as Queen Victoria's Ivory sleeping shoes, Churchill's leather boots, Elizabeth Tel's silver slippers and so on.

Interestingly, during the performance of "the love of the fallen city" in Toronto, a pair of leather shoes worn by Tony Leung in the museum was held in museums for a long time. This is also the first time that Chinese stars' shoes have been collected by the museum.

In addition, museums have shoes of various materials, including animal skins, porcelain clay, wood, flowers and plants, metal and silk, and so on.

The source of the shoes is from the hunter to the Royal noble, from the three inch golden lotus of China to the sandal sandals from the Sahara desert, from the Alaska otter boots to the king's jewellery shoes, from the fourteenth Century Egyptian reed shoes to the world skating champion skates.

"Golden shoes" in the real sense

Its shoe making tools also came from thousands of years ago when the ancient Egyptian artifacts arrived at the time of modern tools.

Berta, the founder of the museum, married with the descendants of the Berta family, which was mainly engaged in the shoe-making industry. She had a strong interest in shoes. She believed that shoes were the embodiment of a person's taste and personality. From the whole history, shoes were the embodiment of technological development, and recorded the change and development of a society's values.