Canadian Destinations

Toronto museums are a “must-see” for visitors

By Albert J. Fernando

Several years ago a friend advised me that if I visited Toronto, there were two attractions I should not miss: the Royal Ontario Museum and the BATA Shoe Museum.

So on a hot afternoon in Canada’s largest city last June, I made my way to the Royal Ontario Museum situated at the corner of Bloor Street and Avenue Road, north of Queen’s Park.

The museum’s collections focus on world cultures and natural history. With more than six million items, it is one of the largest museums in North America.

The institution was opened in 1914 by the Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada, and was operated by the University of Toronto until 1955.

A new wing of the museum was constructed in 1933. In a second expansion, completed at a cost of $55 million, the Queen Elizabeth II Galleries were added. These were opened by the monarch herself in 1984.

The main Galleries include the Gallery of Egypt, Gallery of the Bronze Age Aegean, Gallery of Canada: First Peoples, Gallery of Islam, Gallery of Korea and the A.G. Leventis Foundation Gallery of Ancient Cyprus.

Another is the Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan. Here is the largest collection of Japanese art works in Canada and the only tea master’s collection in North America. It is named after Prince Takamado who studied at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, from 1978 to 1981. The Prince, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, died of a heart failure in 2002.

There are several galleries devoted to China. In these galleries visitors can view thousands of objects spanning 7,000 years of Chinese history, including Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Art, Matthews Family Court of Chinese Sculpture, Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Temple Art (which contains three of the world’s best-preserved temple wall paintings from the Yuan Dynasty, 1271 to 1368 A.D.), and the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China.

Not to be missed is the Gallery of Chinese Architecture, which has one of the largest collections of Chinese architectural artifacts outside China, including a Ming-era tomb complex.

The group of galleries devoted to natural history includes the Gallery of Birds, Gallery of Insects and Their Relatives, Gallery of Mammals, where there is a bat cave – a reconstruction of St. Clair cave in Jamaica – and the hands-on Biodiversity Gallery. There is also the Gallery of Reptiles with snakes, lizards, crocodiles and turtles.

While I was in the reptile gallery, I was amused to see a group of women quickly turning back, with one of them shouting, “Snakes! Let’s get out here!”

At present, the museum is undergoing more expansion with three galleries scheduled to open in 2007. These are the Gallery of the Age of Dinosaurs, Patricia Harris Gallery of Costumes and Textiles and Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery.

The South Asian Gallery will contain objects spanning 5,000 years of history including sculpture, armour and weaponry. Gallery patron Ondaatje and his brother Michael, author of The English Patient, are originally from Sri Lanka.

For details about the new galleries, opening hours and other information, contact the Royal Ontario Museum,100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6. Phone: 1-416-586-8000. Website: www.rom.on.ca

When my friend suggested that I should visit the BATA Shoe Museum, I asked, “Is it a museum showing BATA shoes?” He replied, seeming somewhat annoyed, “No, it is BATA Museum showing the history of shoes, from various centuries and from various countries.” Now that piqued my curiosity.

BATA Shoe Museum is located at 327 Bloor Street and as advised, I got off the subway at the St. George Street station.

When I saw the museum at a distance, I thought the four-storey building looked like a giant shoebox! Indeed that was the intention of architect Raymond Moriyama, who is reported to have said, “When I first viewed the collection, I was impressed by the array of shoe boxes that protected the shoes from light and dust.”

As is well known, Czech-born Thomas Bata founded the shoe empire that bears his name. The museum is the brainchild of his wife Sonja, who had started collecting shoes during business travels.

Her collection having grown quite large, in 1979 she established the BATA Shoe Museum Foundation, with the intention of giving the public the opportunity to the fascinating history of shoes. In addition to establishing the museum, the foundation also financed field trips for professionals to research and collect footwear all over the world.

The present building at Bloor Street was opened in 1995 and houses a collection of more than 10,000 shoes, spanning over 4,500 years of history.

Items in the collection range from 2,500-year-old Egyptian wooden sandals to boots worn by NASA astronauts, embroidered slippers to spiked metal shoes worn for crushing chestnuts.

A special section popular with visitors contains shoes of celebrities like Elton John, Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and Elizabeth Taylor.

In 1995, Sonja Bata explained her interest and philosophy of collecting and displaying shoes around the world thus: “No artifact tells you more about people than a pair of shoes. Shoes tell us about their way of life, their status in society, the climate in which they lived, their activities, and sometimes, even their religious beliefs.”

I came out of the BATA Shoe Museum having gained a wealth of information about different cultures just by looking at their shoes.

For more information, write to the BATA Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor Street, Toronto, Ontario. M5S 1W7. Phone: 416-979-7799. Website: www.batashoemuseum.ca