Bata Shoe Museum
13,000 shoes spanning 4,500 years — the world's largest footwear collection, grown from one woman's personal obsession.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Toronto offline.
Sonja Bata started collecting shoes after her 1946 marriage, and by the late 1970s 1,500 pairs were overflowing company storerooms. That habit became the world's largest footwear collection, now housed in a purpose-built Raymond Moriyama building on the edge of the University of Toronto's St. George campus. Permanent objects sit alongside rotating travelling exhibitions.
What to look for
- Shoes and footwear items dating back 4,500 years in the permanent exhibition
- The Moriyama & Teshima-designed building — 3,665 square metres built specifically to house and display the collection
- Temporary and travelling exhibitions that rotate alongside the permanent display
On the northwest edge of U of T's St. George campus in downtown Toronto; the permanent building has been open since May 1995.
Bata Shoe Museum is one of 19 sights worth the detour in Toronto, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Toronto pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Toronto
- CN TowerFor 32 years, a railway company's broadcast antenna was the tallest free-standing structure on Earth.
- BMO FieldThe 2007 soccer-specific stadium that grew into Toronto's outdoor dual-sport arena — and now holds 45,736 for the 2026 FIFA World Cup under the temporary name Toronto Stadium.
- Scotiabank ArenaA 1941 postal sorting depot on Bay Street that became Canada's busiest arena — and the most photographed spot in the country on Instagram.
- Royal Ontario MuseumCanada's largest museum packs 18 million objects — Cambrian sea creatures, East Asian art, and Art Deco clothing and design objects — into 40 galleries on Bloor Street.
- Rogers CentreThe world's first fully retractable motorized roof opened here in 1989 — and 70 hotel rooms still peer straight down onto the field.
- First Canadian PlaceFor 50 years it was Canada's tallest building — until a fellow Toronto skyscraper finally beat it in June 2025.