Thousands of footwear pairs, 4000 years of history, five continents and the most famous footwear designers of the XX century – this is how we can characterize the biggest footwear museum in the world, named Musée International de la Chaussure (The International Shoe Museum of Romans).

The museum is located in the building of a former nunnery in eastern France on the bank of the Iser river in a town called Roman-sur-Iser, which is situated between Valanse and Lion. The very building of the museum with its Italian architecture appears to be an important historical value.

In Musée International de la Chaussure one can see thousands of unique pairs of historical and modern footwear. The most important ones have a thousand-year-long history: here one can see the sandals of ancient Romans, medieval footwear, Renaissance footwear and the shoes, that were worn in the times of French revolution. The museum provides one with a deep insight into all historical periods, from the Roman empire till our days.

Many of the famous designers use to turn to historical masterpieces, exhibited in the museum. According to Beatris Blanche, the museum director, quoting the predecessors is a common trend in the history of footwear. For example, the forms of the 17-19 centuries look very alike the models of the previous centuries.

Among the contemporary designers, that exhibit their creations in Musée International de la Chaussure, we can first of all name Midori Masuda and Nike.

Midori Masuda collection is inspired by the national Japanese costume, the art of origami and the famous Japanese ball Temari. The author offers a new vision of kimono – it looks like a tiny dress for a woman’s foot.