Madame Tussaud's

Madame Tussaud’s is one of the most popular and talked about wax museums in the world. Here you come face-to-face with some of the world’s famous people. You can see figures created by Madame Tussaud herself as well as the latest hi-tech computer animations. The rule at Madame Tussaud’s is ‘touch, don’t just look!’ so you can get up close and personal with all of your favourite personalities. New models are being produced all the time while the old ones are quietly removed from display.

Born in France in 1761 Marie Grosholtz learned her livelihood as a young woman, from Philippe Curtuis, a brilliant wax modeler who founded the original wax exhibition in Paris. It was an immense success, providing a unique chronicle of ‘the best of times, the worst of times’ in turbulent Revolutionary France. Marie proved a talented protege. Her life like wax replicas were an immense success. Marie inherited the exhibition from Curtius, propelling it to further fame and posterity under the name of the man she married in 1795, Monsieur Tussaud, to whom she bore two sons. In 1802 she seized the chance to tour the exhibition in England. Leaving her husband and younger son behind she came to London with her signature revolutionary relics and wax figures.

From 1803-1835 Madame Tussaud toured England, Scotland and Ireland. Before daily newspapers her exhibition was like a traveling tabloid, a prized source of information about the Royal Family, sensational murders, scandal and war. Before photography she was the original paparazzi giving visitors the chance to get close-up to the famous and infamous. In London in 1835, when a popular diva died, Madame Tussaud quickly produced a wax portrait. This proved a magnet for public mourning and takings doubled. This coup emboldened her to settle in London permanently. The matriarchal business ‘Madame Tussaud and Sons’ quickly became a household name in Victorian London advertised on horse-drawn omnibuses and was even immortalised by Charles Dickens.

After her death in 1850, her sons Joseph and Francis continued to trade under their mother’s name and followed her formula for sustaining and reflecting public interest with constant updates and new additions of topical figures. Continuing to grow in popularity across the next 150 years Madame Tussaud’s is now one of the most famous visitor destinations in London. The ‘Tussaud’ name remains synonymous with excellence in the creation of wax figures. Madame Tussaud was a woman who really understood the meaning of celebrity and sought to make it accessible to everyone.

There are several halls at Madame Tussaud’s. In Blush you can experience the glittering world of celebrity: J-Lo, Madonna, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad and Angelina and many others. In Pirates of the Caribbean & Premiere night you can share the adventures of the world’s most loved pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, in Madame Tussaud’s amazing replica of the pirate ship the Black Pearl, complete with the sights, sounds and smells of the sea. Back on dry land you can mingle with some of Hollywood’s most loved Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne and even the Terminator and Spiderman. Then you can enter the Sports Zone where you have an opportunity to compare your putting technique with Tiger Woods or test your penalty-taking skills alongside David Beckham and other top footballing stars. In Royal Gallery & Cultural Heroes past and present collide as Kings, Queens and Princes from all ages meet. There you can see Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth II, Henry VIII, Richard III and the popular Princes William and Harry. You can also get to grips with those famed for science and the arts: Einstein, Picasso and others. In Music Zone you can meet Beatles, Kylie Minogue, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and other megastars. In World Leaders gallery you will be able to create a flag and a national anthem for a country of your own. You will be inspired by some of history’s most influential leaders including Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Vladimir Putin, George W Bush and many others.

In the basement of Madame Tussaud’s lurks the infamous Chamber of Horrors where villains of all sorts hide away. It is the eeriest place in the whole museum where you can see heads of dead people, murderers and their victims and instruments of torture. The Spirit of London exhibition covers a period of more than 400 years and spans London’s history from Elizabethan times to the present day. You will take a ride in the back of a black cab and you will visit an Elizabethan theatre. You’ll go through the Plague and the Great Fire, you’ll see St. Paul’s Cathedral being built and so on. Many of the figures are animated: they talk and move. And you’ll finish your excursion with an offbeat look at the world of celebrity through the eyes of alien visitors in a short film from Aardman Animations – “The Wonderful World of Stars”. The film is projected onto 360° screen on the Stardome ceiling.