Museo del Calzado José María Amat Amer

The Museo del Calzado José María Amat Amer occupies 2,000 square metres in Elda and holds one of Spain's most complete footwear collections. It takes its name from the vocational-training teacher who, together with a group of students, began cataloguing pieces from the local shoe industry in the late 1980s; the project became a museum in 1992 and moved into its current building in 1999, opened by Infanta Elena. The idea for a museum like this dates back to 1969, though it only gained real momentum in 1988, after the closure of Calzados Luvi, one of the district's historic manufacturers.

A city built on shoes

Elda started making shoes in the mid-19th century, when workshops in the old town moved on from esparto-grass alpargatas to leather footwear. By the end of that century the trade was already mechanised and employed hundreds of families, and in the 20th century the city hosted Spain's first International Footwear Fair (FICIA), cementing its place as one of the country's main shoemaking centres alongside neighbouring Petrer.

The permanent exhibition traces that history through 19th- and 20th-century production machinery, the Aguado collection of shoe lasts, and pieces that show how footwear changed over the centuries. A separate section, "Zapatos con Historia", gathers models linked to well-known figures, including a pair worn by tennis player Rafa Nadal and another that belonged to Pope John XXIII.

A visit takes a little over an hour and pairs well with other stops in Elda's old town, such as the Iglesia de Santa Ana or the El Monastil archaeological site. Anyone curious how the neighbouring town approached the same trade can also visit Petrer's Museo Dámaso Navarro. The museum regularly comes up in roundups of the best museums in the province.