Bally Shoe Museum

Bally Shoe Museum was in Schönenwerd, Switzerland. One of the most important footwear museums in the world, with more than 10,000 shoes, boots, and slippers of all types as well as various materials relating to their manufacture. The Collection began at the end of 1800s, when the Bally family decided to search the world for interesting shoes to use as inspiration for their own manufacturing. They accumulated crates of shoes from North America, Persia, Turkey, the Far East and the lower Nile. The specimens were exhibited for the first time only in 1915 in a show at the Museum of Applied Arts in Zurich. The family also began to collect objects and art work depicting shoes. The museum opened in 1942. The Collection was located in the former residence of Carl Franz Bally, near the factory. The displays document the historical and cultural evolution of the shoe.