Madame Tussauds in London: history of creation, description of exhibits, reviews

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

In London, as, indeed, in any other world capital, whose history is rooted in the distant past, tourists can get acquainted with a large number of various attractions. The attention of many travelers is attracted by the famous Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park and many other places.

But almost everyone who visits this city for the first time wants to get to Madame Tussauds, which is the same symbol of London as Big Ben. The only difference between this attraction and many others lies in the fact that it has a human face, or rather, hundreds of faces. This number of figures is today in Madame Tussauds. Almost 2.5 million visitors come to see these amazing exhibits every year. This impressive figure is a clear recognition of the merits of the founder of the museum - MariaTussauds, which started this business two centuries ago.

There are other wax exhibitions in the world. However, Madame Tussauds stands out from all of them not only with an impressive number of exhibits, but also with its media promotion. The appearance of new figures in expositions is often covered by the media, being considered a kind of recognition of certain merits of a person.

History of Creation

The future founder of the museum, Marie Tussauds, was born in 1761 in Strasbourg (her maiden name was Grosskolz). Soon her family moved to Switzerland. Here, Mary's mother began working as a housekeeper for Dr. Phillip Curtis, who specialized, among other things, in creating various wax models. He began to teach the girl his skills. Maria proved to be a capable student. Already at the age of 16, she became the author of the first wax figure of Voltaire himself. After that, she worked on creating similar copies of Benjamin Franklin and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Until the age of 30, Maria was a devoted assistant to Phillip Kartis. Together with him she organized exhibitions and conducted the affairs of the doctor. Kartis appreciated her work. He bequeathed to Mary the entire collection of his works. It went to her after his death in 1794. With such an extensive collection, Maria traveled all over Europe with temporary exhibitions. In 1795, the girl married, becoming Madame Tussauds.

In 1802, Marie was in England and because of the Napoleonic wars, she could not return to her homeland. After some period of moving around the UK and Iceland, the future founderfamous exhibition with her family decided to stay in London, where she rented a room on the famous Baker Street. This is the street where the history of Madame Tussauds began in 1836.

Change of ownership

After Marie's death in 1850, her work was continued by her children. They were also trained in the art of wax sculpture. The first Madame Tussauds Museum worked on Baker Street until 1883. After that, Marie's grandson decided to build his own premises. The need for this was caused by a number of factors, including the small size of the building and the increased rent at times. The new building was erected on Marylebone Road, where Madame Tussauds is still located today.

The move brought a number of problems to the owners of the exhibition. The costs were so great that financial disassembly began between family members. In addition, in 1925 there was a fire in the museum. He destroyed almost the entire collection. As a result, the heirs of Madame Tussauds had to sell their business. Fortunately, the new owner quickly restored the figures, which made it possible to make the surviving forms. Once again, Madame Tussauds suffered damage in 1940. It was hit by an air bomb.

The museum was restored again, and its popularity continued to grow steadily. Soon his exposition became one of the most popular in England, and then all over the world.

Where can I see wax figures?

Today, more than 20 branches of this famous museum operate in various states on our planet. The main of its showrooms is located in London, in one of the mostprestigious areas of the capital of England - Marylebone. It also has branches in major US cities such as New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Orlando.

Where is Madame Tussauds in Asia? Its offices are located in Bangkok and Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Tokyo and Singapore. Lucky in this respect and Europe. Tourists who come here can get acquainted with wax sculptures in Berlin and Barcelona, Vienna and Amsterdam. The popularity of Madame Tussauds made it possible to send her works to distant Australia. Unfortunately, there are no such exhibitions in the CIS countries for 2017.

Museum Address

The main showroom is located on Marylebourne Road (London, NW1 5LR). Not far from it is Regent's Park.

There is a Baker Street metro station within walking distance of the museum. You can also get to this London attraction by bus. Routes such as 274, 139 and 82 go here. It is also convenient to get to the wax exhibition by train.

Purchasing tickets

Judging by the reviews, Madame Tussauds meets its guests in huge queues. It seems that getting to the exhibition halls is simply impossible. However, the queue moves quickly: after standing in it for about 40 minutes, visitors approach the cashier.

Tickets to Madame Tussauds experienced tourists recommend buying online. In this case, those who intend to visit a unique exhibition will be sure that they will get to see its expositions at a certain time, which will allow them to properly plan theirday. In addition, tourists note the fact that purchasing tickets via the Internet will save up to 25% of their cost, which is quite high. So, at the box office you have to pay 30 pounds (42 dollars) for visiting the museum. Buying a ticket online will cost £22.5 ($31.5).

It is worth bearing in mind that the museum provides discounts. They are offered when visiting the exhibition by children or the whole family. When planning a sightseeing tour of London and wanting to visit Madame Tussauds, you should heed the advice of seasoned tourists and book a ticket in advance. Judging by the feedback from visitors, in this case they are invited to choose a specific arrival time with a 30-minute interval.

Ticket prices change throughout the day. It is directly dependent on the time of visiting the museum. The most expensive are morning tickets. It is cheaper to go to the museum after 15:00, and the most economical option would be to visit it after 17:00. In the latter case, the ticket price will be 15 pounds ($20).

What awaits visitors?

At the entrance to the museum, guests are met by its founder, Madame Tussauds. Or rather, not quite her, but her self-portrait figure, made by Marie with her own hand. This work, which opens the collection of the museum, located in several rooms with different themes. It will take more than one hour to see all the exhibits. Judging by the reviews of experienced travelers, anyone who is going to come to this amazing museum should charge their camera to the maximum.

In Londonin the exhibition hall you can see about four hundred wax figures. Most of them are musicians, movie stars, athletes and politicians. Some figures are copies of famous representatives of the past. There are also exhibits in the museum that are dedicated to artistic characters. The largest wax figure of this theme is the Hulk, and the smallest is the Tinker Bell fairy.

Some celebrities are represented by their stage images or characters. So, Johnny Depp is portrayed by Captain Jack Sparrow.

Those figures that are in the museum are not always included in the current exhibition. Some of them are already initially considered temporary. As a rule, these are thematic exhibitions dedicated to the release of popular films on the screen. But there is another reason that wax figures are removed from the exhibition over time. It is a drop in the interest of visitors to them.

Judging by the description of Madame Tussauds, it differs significantly from other similar exhibitions. Here, visitors are not forbidden to approach most of the figures. People are also allowed to hug the exhibits and take pictures with them. The only exceptions are figures that have survived from the time of Mari.

Current exhibitions on a particular subject by the staff of the London Museum periodically change. However, there are a number of rooms that are permanent.

Royals

All the figures of Madame Tussauds in London are located in the gallery of halls, each of which contains characters united by one theme. The most honorable place in the main insertionthe hall, located in England, is occupied by members of the royal family who rule the country.

Their figures, like animated pictures from the pages of magazines, are in a room called "World Arena". Among the members of the crowned dynasty, the image of the Duchess of Cambridge has recently appeared. This is Kate Middleton, who tenderly holds the hand of her husband, Prince William. To the left of the young couple is the owner of Buckingham Palace - Elizabeth II. Not far from her is Sir Harry. The gorgeous Lady Diana is also here.

World leaders

In the second part of the same hall of Madame Tussauds in London - exhibits representing the figures of the main religious and political figures who entered the history of mankind.

Here you can see Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill, Nicolas Sarkozy and Indira Gandhi, as well as many other prominent politicians from different times. Entering this hall, visitors can take pictures with Barack Abama himself, around whom the atmosphere of the Oval Office of the White House is recreated. To the left of the former US president stands the unfailingly calm Vladimir Putin.

By entering this hall, each of the visitors gets a unique opportunity to express their opinion to any of the world leaders represented here and shake his hand.

Celebrities

One of the parts of the World Arena exhibition is reserved for the stars of the music industry. Here you can take pictures with the idols of millionspeople and stand near Justin Timberlake, see Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé. Somewhat away from them is the famous Placido Domingo. Not without an impromptu scene in this exposition.

The great Freddie Mercury seems to continue his work on it. During the tour, tourists can greet the musicians of the Beatles and shake hands with Michael Jackson.

Opening night

In this hall you can see prototypes of Hollywood stars. Among them are Jim Carrey, Garrison Ford, as well as the great Arnie (actor Schwarzenegger is presented in the image of the Terminator). There is also Marilyn Monroe, who is in the image created by her in the movie "The Seven Year Itch". The animation characters were not left without attention in the museum. Here you can stumble upon Spider-Man and Shrek.

A recent museum innovation is characters from Marvel comics. They are presented in a 4D show which includes a 10 minute 3D movie complete with moving chairs, splashes and wind.

A List Party

There is a hall in Madame Tussauds where you can see world celebrities. Here is the figure of the beautiful Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt. Not far from them is the Beckham star family, the figures of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Pattinson, and J. Lo.

Horror Room

This is the creepiest room in Madame Tussauds. The horror room includes the scariest andcreepy exhibits, as well as plots of bloody stories. Those visitors who love thrills seek to visit this hall. But it should be borne in mind that people with unstable mentality, as well as pregnant women and children under 12 years old, are not allowed to enter this hall.

The room contains a complete collection of heads cut off to the wives of Henry the Eighth. In addition, the hall contains figures of the most famous murderers and maniacs in history, as well as tools that were used in the Middle Ages for torture.

Feelings of horror intensified by museum staff. Dressed in dark clothes, they suddenly jump out of the darkness, grabbing the hands of visitors. As a rule, all excursions in this hall are certainly accompanied by a female squeal. For those who want to raise the level of adrenaline in the blood, there is an opportunity for an additional fee to spend the whole night in this hall. They say that there are those who wish, and there are plenty of them.

What is the attraction of the museum?

All figures on display can be called real masterpieces. Each of them is so similar to the original that even in the photo it is difficult to notice a fake. A similar effect is achieved due to the observance by the masters of the exact proportions of the body, body build and height of a celebrity.

The museum provides the most inquisitive visitors with the opportunity to see the process of making wax dolls.

Of course, a person will not receive any new knowledge when visiting a museum. However, for many, the exhibition is not just entertainment with amusing photographs. Visitors take the chance to look at the one about whom much is written, filmed and talked about. After all, people always have a dream of meeting earthly stars that have left their indelible mark on science, culture, sports, politics and art.