An Obscure Museum

As I have said numerous times, Mexico City has more museums than almost any city in the world... 170 is the latest figure that I have seen.  Obviously, some of those museums are rather obscure and of limited interest.  Last week, I went to one of the lesser known museums... the Shoe Museum.  It is located in the historic center and is owned by the Borcegui Shoe Store which has been in this location since 1865.  The entrance is through a door next to the store and up a flight of steps. 

The museum's collection traces the history of footwear and includes shoes that belonged to a number of famous people.  It is, however, another one of those ridiculous places that allows photography with a cell phone but not with a camera.  As a result, my photos are not of the best quality.  The museum doesn't really lend itself to good photography anyway, since the shoes are crammed together in glass cases.

Anyway, here a few of the pieces of footwear in the museum...

An Egyptian sandal from the 3rd century B.C.

An Incan sandal from the 15th century

Embroidered boots from Afghanistan, dating from around 1900

Deerskin shoes from Finland, 19th century

Slipper worn by King Louis XV of France, 18th century

Replica of the lunar boots worn by Neil Armstrong, donated to the museum by NASA

Athletic shoes worn by Magic Johnson

Golf shoes worn by Tiger Woods

Shoes that belonged to Queen Elizabeth II

Protective booties worn by the search and rescue dog Frida.

Frida was beloved by the Mexican people for her efforts searching for people buried in the rubble after the 2017 earthquake in Mexico City.  She is said to have saved the lives of at least twelve people during her career.  Frida retired from rescue work in 2019 and passed away at the age of 13 last year.

That's another museum I can check off as having visited.  However, I do not recommend it as a "must-see" attraction for first time visitors... or even second- or third-time visitors.