This special exhibition is devoted to an everyday object that for millennia has served to protect the soles of men, women and children: the shoe.

In collaboration with the Northampton Museums and Art Gallery in England, home to the world’s largest collection of historical shoes, this exhibition with over 220 pairs of shoes takes visitors on a journey through the footwear history of the last 3 000 years.


In addition to a purely protective function and its importance for many people as a fashion item, throughout history the shoe has also been connected with social status and membership to particular social groups. For example, in ancient Egypt, only pharaohs were allowed to wear sandals made of silver or gold. In fact, the oldest shoe in the exhibition comes from Egypt, and dates from around 1 000 BC.


More than 30 artists from across the globe have made their artistic shoe creations available for the exhibition.

Thomas Murphy, an English shoemaker of bespoke shoes for the young and old, will demonstrate his craft on various weekends, allowing visitors the chance to experience how handmade shoes are made today and trying a bit of shoemaking themselves.


History under your feet, 3000 years of shoes will be on display from the 18th October 2014 to the 6th April 2015 at the Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel.