The
"BAHAY NA BATO" (stone house) which houses
the museum was originally used as an arsenal during
the Spanish period. It later became a detention
cell of General Macario Sakay one of the last katipunero
leaders who resisted the American Occupation in
the Philippine American War. The building later
evolved into a motor pool servicing the needs of
the American soldiers and then get converted into
a "BIGASANG BAYAN" (rice mill) by the
prominent Tuazon family for their hacienda in the
aftermath of World War 2. It was in 1998, recognizing
the significant of this landmark edifice, when Chairman
Bayani "BF" Fernando, then city mayor
transformed the age-old structure into the very
first Marikina Museum-a window to the long surviving
shoe industry.

Dedicated to the unflagging hard work and ingenuity
of the Marikeños, the Marikina Shoe Museum
serves as a momento of the world-class craftsmanship
and innate good taste of a city renowned for being
the Shoe Capital of the Philippines.

The First and only Footware Museum in the country
it boasts of an expensive shoe collection donated
by well-known personalities-politicians, celebrities,
athletes, artists, global leaders and even controversial
figures.
From
the elegant and imeldific size 778 pairs of size
9 shoes owned by the Former First Lady imelda Marcos,
to the size 5 conservative no nonsense office shoes
of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, one would simply be
amazed that a pair of shoes can tell a person's
lifestyle and personality.
Also
housed in the museum are the old tools used in shoemaking,
a life-size tableau of a FAMILY of shoe makers and
a gamut of fancy-eye candy shoe miniatures done
in glass, wood, paper, shell, stone, cloth and ceramics.