Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. It was
formerly spelled "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used.
Marie Tussaud, born Anna Maria Grosholtz (1761–1850) was born in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling. In 1765, Tussaud made a waxwork of Marie-Jeanne du Barry, Louis XV's mistress. The first exhibition of Tussaud's waxworks was shown in 1770, and attracted a large audience.
Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous people she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she modelled many prominent victims. In her memoirs she claims that she would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Following the doctor’s death in 1794, she inherited his vast collection of wax models and spent the next 33 years travelling around Europe. Her marriage to Francois Tussaud in 1795 lent a new name to the show – Madame Tussauds. In 1802, she went to London. As a result of the Franco-British war, she was unable to return to France, so she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection.
By 1835 Marie had settled down in Baker Street, London, and opened a museum.
One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included victims of the French Revolution and newly created figures of murderers and other criminals.
Other famous people were added to the exhibition, including Horatio Nelson, and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Marie Tussaud herself still exist. The gallery originally contained some 400 different figures, but fire damage in 1925, coupled with German bombs in 1941, has rendered most of these older models defunct. The casts themselves have survived (allowing the historical waxworks to be remade) – and these can be seen in the museum’s history exhibit. The oldest figure on display is that of Madame du Barry. Other ancient faces from the time of Tussaud include Robespierre, George III and Benjamin Franklin. In 1842, she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. She died in her sleep on 15 April 1850.
Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction in London, incorporating (until recently) the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded and will expand with branches in Amsterdam, Bangkok Berlin, Dubai, Las Vegas, New York City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Washington, D.C. and Hollywood. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. Known as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe), they are owned by a leisure company called Merlin Entertainments, following the acquisition of The Tussauds Group in May 2007. In 2010, Merlin Entertainments's partnership with Tatweer will make a Madame Tussauds in Dubai.
And now you're welcome to answer the following questions:
B) Why was Madame Tussaud unable to return to France after her visit to London?
C) When and where did she open her museum?
D) What was the main attraction of her museum and what did it include?
E) Is Madame Tussaud’s wax museum considered to be a major tourist attraction? What makes you think so?
If you want to visit Madame Tussauds right now, you are welcome to watch this video. Enjoy it!
