The Shoe Museum

The Shoe Museum was born in S. João da Madeira, a town where development is founded on a traditional know-how.

Here, experienced hands of the trade and the creativity of new designers are in dialogue. The history of the shoe is told throughout time. Stories are discovered: of lives dedicated to shoes and shoes that made an impression on lives they came across.

The Shoe Museum appears in an innovating way in the national museum scene, portraying the memory of the shoe industry in S. João da Madeira and the reality of shoe design in Portugal in the 20th century, while indicating paths at the cutting edge of technology and creativity of the 21st century.

This is an option dictated by the historical significance of S. João da Madeira within shoe production at a national level, as well as by the physical and symbolic framework of the Museum in a wider policy which is based on culture and creativity as local development factors.

More than a mere artefact exhibition, The Shoe Museum is a space of learning, creativity and experimentation, which will demand permanent questioning and an interactive posture from its visitor.

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