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Madame Tussauds

January 01, 1970

This article is about the wax museum. For the person, see Marie Tussaud.
"Tussauds" redirects here. For the company, see The Tussauds Group.

Madame Tussauds (UK: /tuːˈsɔːdz/, US: /tuːˈsoʊz/)[1][N. 1] is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud.[2][3] One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843.[4]

Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds has included the former London Planetarium (large dome to the left) since 2010.
Established22 May 1835 (188 years ago) (22 May 1835)
LocationMarylebone Road, City of Westminster, London, England
FounderMarie Tussaud
Websitewww.madametussauds.com

In 1883, the restricted space of the original Baker Street site prompted Tussaud's grandson (Joseph Randall) to commission the building at its current London location on Marylebone Road. The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success. Madame Tussaud & Sons was incorporated as a private limited company (Ltd.) in 1889.[5]

A major tourist attraction in London since the Victorian era, Madame Tussauds displays the waxworks of famous and historical figures, as well as popular film and television characters played by famous actors.[6] Operated by the British entertainment company Merlin Entertainments, the museum now has locations in cities across four continents, with the first overseas branch opening in Amsterdam in 1970.[7]

History edit

Background edit

Marie Tussaud was born as Marie Grosholtz in 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked for Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland; he was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling when she was a child; when he moved to Paris, Marie and her mother followed.[8]

Grosholtz created her first wax sculpture, of Voltaire, in 1777.[9] At 17, according to her memoirs, she became art tutor to Madame Elizabeth, the sister of King Louis XVI. During the French Revolution, she was imprisoned for three months, but was subsequently released.[8] During the Revolution, she made models of many prominent victims.[10]

 
 
Left: Waxwork of Marie Tussaud (sculpting a waxwork) and right: her memorial plaque at the wax museum she founded in London

Grosholtz inherited Curtius' vast collection of wax models following his death in 1794. For the next 33 years, she travelled around Europe with a touring show from the collection. She married Francois Tussaud in 1795, took his surname, and renamed her show as Madame Tussaud's. In 1802 she accepted an invitation from lantern and phantasmagoria pioneer Paul Philidor to exhibit her work alongside his show at the Lyceum Theatre, London. A wave of creativity was in vogue in London when Tussaud arrived in the city, with new West End stage plays which included the first to be called a melodrama, the first appearance of Joseph Grimaldi in his whiteface clown character, and poet William Wordsworth's poem "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" describing London and the Thames.[11] Adding her own creativity to the mix, Tussaud brought with her all her death masks, wax faces and busts.[11] Complaining that Philidor failed to promote her, Tussaud then decided to go into business alone.[12]

Unable to return to France because of the Napoleonic Wars, she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection and made her home in London. From 1831, she took a series of short leases on the upper floor of "Baker Street Bazaar" (on the west side of Baker Street, Dorset Street, and King Street in London).[13] This site was later featured in the Druce-Portland case sequence of trials of 1898–1907. This became Tussaud's first permanent home in 1836.[14]

Origins edit

 
Poster for the Tussaud wax figures exhibition, Baker Street, London, 1835

By 1835, Marie Tussaud had settled down in Baker Street and opened a museum.[2] One of her museum's main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors. The name is often credited to a contributor to Punch in 1845, but Tussaud appears to have originated it herself, using it in advertising as early as 1843.[4] 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 museum, including Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Henry VIII, and Queen Victoria.[15] The early commercial success of Madame Tussaud's saw it establish itself as a brand, and the museum became a pioneer in innovating various forms of publicity when the advertising industry was in its infancy.[4] The Hall of Fame attraction exerted great influence among the public of Victorian London, and inclusion in it was definitive proof one had attained celebrity status.[4]

In these days no one can be considered properly popular unless he is admitted into the company of Madame Tussaud's celebrities in Baker Street. The only way in which a powerful and lasting impression can be made on the public is through the medium of wax. You must be a doll at Madame Tussaud's before you can become an I-dol(l) of the multitude. Madame Tussaud has become in fact the only dispenser of permanent reputation.

— "The Tussaud Test of Popularity", Punch, 1849.[4]
 
Advertising man pasting a bill for Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, London 1877. Early exhibits included Burke and Hare. The chamber closed on 11 April 2016 and was replaced by the Sherlock Holmes Experience.[16]

Other businesses in Baker Street profited from being within close proximity to Madame Tussaud's, and in 1860 Charles Dickens hailed the museum as one of London's most popular entertainments, writing in All the Year Round: "Madame Tussaud's is something more than an exhibition, it is an institution."[17] A waxwork of Dickens appeared at the museum in 1873, three years after his death.[18] Some sculptures still exist that were made by Marie Tussaud herself. The gallery originally contained some 400 different figures, but fire damage in 1925 coupled with bombs during the Blitz on London in 1941, severely damaged most of such older models. 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, the work of Curtius from 1765 and part of the waxworks left to Grosholtz at his death. Other faces from the time of Tussaud include Robespierre and George III.[19] In 1842, she made a self-portrait, which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. She died in her sleep in London on 16 April 1850.[20]

 
Entrance sign in London

By 1883, the restricted space and rising cost of the Baker Street site prompted her grandson Joseph Randall to commission construction of a building at the museum's current location on Marylebone Road. The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success.[21] But Randall had bought out his cousin Louisa's half-share in the business in 1881, and that plus the building costs resulted in his having too little capital. He formed a limited company in 1888 to attract fresh capital but it had to be dissolved after disagreements between the family shareholders. In February 1889 Tussaud's was sold to a group of businessmen led by Edwin Josiah Poyser.[22] Tussaud's great-grandson, John Theodore Tussaud, continued in his role as the museum's manager and chief artist.[19] The first wax sculpture of a young Winston Churchill was made in 1908; a total of ten have been made since.[23] The first overseas branch of Madame Tussauds was opened in Amsterdam in 1970.[7]

Ownership changes edit

In 2005, Madame Tussauds was sold to a company in Dubai, Dubai International Capital, for £800m (US$1.5bn). In May 2007, The Blackstone Group purchased The Tussauds Group from then-owner Dubai International Capital for US$1.9 billion;[24] the company was merged with Blackstone's Merlin Entertainments and operation of Madame Tussauds was taken over by Merlin.[24][25] After the Tussauds acquisition, Dubai International Capital gained 20% of Merlin Entertainment.[26]

On 17 July 2007, as part of the financing for the Tussauds deal, Merlin sold the freehold of Madame Tussauds to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement.[27] Although the attraction sites are owned by Prestbury, they are operated by Merlin based on a renewable 35-year lease.[25]

Recent status edit

 
Madame Tussauds (spelt without the apostrophe) next to a waxwork of Kate Winslet in London

Madame Tussaud's wax museum has been a major tourist attraction in London since it opened in the 1830s, an era viewed as being when the city's tourism industry began.[6] Until 2010, it incorporated the London Planetarium in its west wing. A large animated dark ride, The Spirit of London, opened in 1993. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars, and famous murderers. It has been known since 2007 as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe).[28] In 2009, a 5+1⁄2 inches (14 cm) waxwork of Tinker Bell (the fairy from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan) became the museum's smallest figure of all time when it was unveiled in London.[29]

In July 2008, Madame Tussauds' Berlin branch became embroiled in controversy when a 41-year-old German man brushed past two guards and decapitated a wax figure depicting Adolf Hitler. This was believed to be an act of protest against showing the ruthless dictator alongside sports heroes, movie stars, and other historical figures. The statue has since been repaired, and the perpetrator has admitted that he attacked the statue to win a bet.[30] The original model of Hitler was unveiled in Madame Tussauds London in April 1933; it was frequently vandalised and a 1936 replacement had to be carefully guarded.[31][32][33] In January 2016, the statue of Hitler was removed from the Chamber of Horrors section in the London museum in response to an open letter sent by a staff writer of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, followed by significant support for its removal from social media.[34]

The first Madame Tussauds in India opened in New Delhi on 1 December 2017. Its operator, Merlin Entertainments, planned an investment of 50 million pounds over the next 10 years.[35][36][37] It features over 50 wax models, including political and entertainment figures such as Ariana Grande, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sachin Tendulkar, Kim Kardashian, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Asha Bhosle, Kapil Dev, and Mary Kom.[38] On 30 December 2020, the holding company of Madame Tussauds in Delhi confirmed a temporary shutdown of the museum.[39] It reopened in 2022.[40]

Museum locations edit

 
Entry of Madame Tussauds in Berlin
 
Madame Tussauds in New York City opened in 2000.
 
Madame Tussauds opened in Washington, D.C., in 2007.
 
Madame Tussauds Hollywood in 2018
 
Madame Tussauds in Shanghai, China, displaying a wax figure of Queen Elizabeth II, opened in 2006.

Asia edit

Europe edit

North America edit

Oceania edit

In popular culture edit

Celebrity poses with their wax figures edit

Celebrities have often posed like their wax figures as pranks and publicity stunts:

  • On 3 November 2009, the museum's New York City branch was featured in a segment on NBC's Today in which weatherman Al Roker posed in place of his lifelike wax figure for two hours and startled unsuspecting visitors, who were at first led to believe they were viewing Roker's wax counterpart.[68]
  • NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin pranked fans during the unveiling of their statues at the New York and San Francisco museums, respectively.[69][70]
  • In 2015, Arnold Schwarzenegger posed as the Terminator statue in the Hollywood museum, to promote a charity event.[71]
  • Ant and Dec pranked Olly Murs by tricking him into using a machine that will "scan every part of Olly's face and body to create the most accurate wax figure ever" as a part of their annual Undercover segment on their show, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.[72]

Music edit

List of wax figures edit

Main article: List of wax figures displayed at Madame Tussauds museums

Gallery edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The family themselves pronounce it /ˈtuːsoʊ/.[citation needed]

References edit

  1. ^ Wells, John C. (2009). "Tussaud's". Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. London: Pearson Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  2. ^ a b "The History of Madame Tussauds" 13 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Madame Tussauds.com.
  3. ^ Rothstein, Edward (24 August 2007). "Ripley's Believe It or Not – Madame Tussauds". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2010. Madame Tussaud (who gave the attraction its now-jettisoned apostrophe) ...
  4. ^ a b c d e Berridge, Kate (2006). Madame Tussaud: A life in wax. New York: HarperCollins. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-06-052847-8.
  5. ^ The Law Journal Reports Volume 96. E.B. Ince. p. 328.
  6. ^ a b Smith, Andrew; Graham, Anne (2019). Destination London. The Expansion of the Visitor Economy. University of Westminster Press. p. 6. Whilst London's appeal is based on historical attractions that date back to Roman times, the city's tourism 'industry' arguably dates back to the nineteenth century. In the period 1820–1840 new facilities were established that still provide the backbone of the city's tourism sector: iconic attractions (London Zoo, Madame Tussauds), leisure settings...
  7. ^ a b "Madame Tussauds' to open shop in Delhi". The Times of India. 13 November 2015.
  8. ^ a b "The Baker Street Bazaar". 26 May 2012.
  9. ^ Du Plessis, Amelia. . Informational site about England. Archived from the original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  10. ^ "Marie Tussaud Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Marie Tussaud". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  11. ^ a b Walton, Geri (2019). "Chapter 15, page 1". Madame Tussaud Her Life and Legacy. Pen & Sword Books.
  12. ^ "How Madame Tussaud built her house of wax". National Geographic. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  13. ^ Pilbeam (2006) pp. 102–106
  14. ^ Pilbeam (2006) pp. 100–104
  15. ^ Timbs, John (1868). Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis, with Nearly Sixty Years' Personal Recollections. Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. p. 819.
  16. ^ "Now you too can play at being Sherlock Holmes". iNews. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  17. ^ All the Year Round Volume 2. Charles Dickens. 1860. p. 250.
  18. ^ Litvack, Leon; Vanfasse, Nathalie (2020). Reading Dickens Differently. Wiley. p. 213.
  19. ^ a b "In pictures: The curious history of Madame Tussauds". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  20. ^ Wilson, Scott (16 September 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 762. ISBN 9781476625997. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  21. ^ Pilbeam, ibid. pp. 166, 168–9.
  22. ^ Pilbeam, ibid. p. 170.
  23. ^ Pamela Pilbeam Madame Tussaud: And the History of Waxworks. P.199.
  24. ^ a b Cho, David (6 March 2007). "Blackstone Buys Madame Tussauds Chain". The Washington Post.
  25. ^ a b "Merlin conjures up leaseback deal". The Daily Telegraph. 17 July 2007.
  26. ^ "Tussauds firm bought in £1bn deal". BBC News. 5 March 2007.
  27. ^ "Alton Towers sold in £622m deal". BBC News. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  28. ^ "10 Things You Might Not Know About Madame Tussauds Wax Museum". Mental Floss. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  29. ^ "Tinker Bell Immortalized at Madame Tussauds". AWN. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  30. ^ . meeja.com.au. 14 September 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  31. ^ Pilbeam, ibid. p. 199.
  32. ^ "Madame Tussauds to repair beheaded Hitler". Associated Press. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  33. ^ Carrel, Paul (5 July 2008). "Man rips head from Hitler wax figure". Reuters.
  34. ^ Gur-Arieh, Noga (6 January 2016). "Madame Tussauds Museum in London Removed Hitler Figure". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  35. ^ [1]: "Madame Tussauds (no longer an apostrophe)."
  36. ^ "Madame Tussauds debuts in Delhi". BBC News. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  37. ^ "Madame Tussauds Delhi to officially open for public on December 1". The Indian Express. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  38. ^ "Take a sneak peek into India's first Madame Tussauds in Delhi – Wax figure of PM Narendra Modi". The Economic Times.
  39. ^ "Wax museum feels Delhi heat, Madame Tussauds shuts". The Indian Express. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  40. ^ "Madame Tussauds to Reopen in Delhi in 2022, to Offer Discount for Covid Warriors, Jabbed Visitors". 24 May 2021.
  41. ^ "Madame Tussauds Beijing" (in Chinese). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  42. ^ "Madame Tussauds Chongqing" (in Chinese). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  43. ^ "Madame Tussauds Shanghai" (in Chinese). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  44. ^ "Madame Tussauds Wuhan" (in Chinese). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  45. ^ "Madame Tussauds Hong Kong" (in Chinese). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  46. ^ "Madame Tussauds Delhi". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  47. ^ "Madame Tussauds Opens Today at Noida's DLF Mall | Noida News – Times of India". The Times of India. 19 July 2022.
  48. ^ "Madame Tussauds Tokyo" (in Japanese). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  49. ^ "Madame Tussauds Singapore". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  50. ^ "Madame Tussauds Bangkok". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  51. ^ "Madame Tussauds attraction to open in Dubai in 2021".
  52. ^ "Madame Tussauds Amsterdam" (in Dutch). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  53. ^ "Madame Tussauds Berlin" (in German). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  54. ^ "Madame Tussauds Blackpool". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  55. ^ "Egy szobában Beyoncé, Széchenyi, Hszi Csin-ping és Zámbó Jimmy – bemutatták a budapesti Madame Tussauds-t". hvg.hu (in Hungarian). 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  56. ^ "Madame Tussauds Istanbul" (in Turkish). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  57. ^ "Madame Tussauds London". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  58. ^ (in Czech). madametussauds.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  59. ^ "Madame Tussauds Vienna" (in German). madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  60. ^ "Madame Tussauds Hollywood". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  61. ^ "Madame Tussauds Las Vegas". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  62. ^ "Madame Tussauds Nashville". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  63. ^ "Madame Tussauds New York". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  64. ^ "Madame Tussauds Orlando". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  65. ^ "Madame Tussauds San Francisco". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  66. ^ "Madame Tussauds Washington D.C." madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  67. ^ "Madame Tussauds Sydney". madametussauds.com. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  68. ^ The Weather Channel (30 December 2009). "Al makes people jump out of their skin" – via YouTube.
  69. ^ "Carmelo Anthony Takes The Time To Prank Visitors at Madame Tussaud's " NBA.com – All Ball Blog with Lang Whitaker". National Basketball Association.
  70. ^ Pincus, Eric (11 September 2014). "Jeremy Lin pranks at Madame Tussauds, pretends to be wax likeness". Los Angeles Times.
  71. ^ "Entertain This! – Daily hits and misses in pop culture". USA Today.
  72. ^ "Watch Ant & Dec prank Olly Murs for Saturday Night Takeaway". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  73. ^ "Meltdown (At Madame Tussaud's) – Meltdown – Steve Taylor Discography". Sock Heaven. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  74. ^ . Todays Christian Music. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  75. ^ "Beatles waxworks sell for £81,500". BBC. 28 October 2005.
  76. ^ Wooding, Dan (1978). Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader. p. 104. Granada Publishing Limited.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

 
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51°31′22″N 0°09′19″W / 51.52278°N 0.15528°W / 51.52278; -0.15528

January 01, 1970
madame, tussauds, this, article, about, museum, person, marie, tussaud, tussauds, redirects, here, company, tussauds, group, ɔː, museum, founded, london, 1835, french, sculptor, marie, tussaud, early, main, attractions, chamber, horrors, which, appeared, adver. This article is about the wax museum For the person see Marie Tussaud Tussauds redirects here For the company see The Tussauds Group Madame Tussauds UK t uː ˈ s ɔː d z US t uː ˈ s oʊ z 1 N 1 is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud 2 3 One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors which appeared in advertising in 1843 4 Madame TussaudsMadame Tussauds has included the former London Planetarium large dome to the left since 2010 Established22 May 1835 188 years ago 22 May 1835 LocationMarylebone Road City of Westminster London EnglandFounderMarie TussaudWebsitewww wbr madametussauds wbr com In 1883 the restricted space of the original Baker Street site prompted Tussaud s grandson Joseph Randall to commission the building at its current London location on Marylebone Road The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success Madame Tussaud amp Sons was incorporated as a private limited company Ltd in 1889 5 A major tourist attraction in London since the Victorian era Madame Tussauds displays the waxworks of famous and historical figures as well as popular film and television characters played by famous actors 6 Operated by the British entertainment company Merlin Entertainments the museum now has locations in cities across four continents with the first overseas branch opening in Amsterdam in 1970 7 Contents 1 History 1 1 Background 1 2 Origins 1 3 Ownership changes 1 4 Recent status 2 Museum locations 2 1 Asia 2 2 Europe 2 3 North America 2 4 Oceania 3 In popular culture 3 1 Celebrity poses with their wax figures 3 2 Music 4 List of wax figures 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External linksHistory editBackground edit Marie Tussaud was born as Marie Grosholtz in 1761 in Strasbourg France Her mother worked for Philippe Curtius in Bern Switzerland he was a physician skilled in wax modelling Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling when she was a child when he moved to Paris Marie and her mother followed 8 Grosholtz created her first wax sculpture of Voltaire in 1777 9 At 17 according to her memoirs she became art tutor to Madame Elizabeth the sister of King Louis XVI During the French Revolution she was imprisoned for three months but was subsequently released 8 During the Revolution she made models of many prominent victims 10 nbsp nbsp Left Waxwork of Marie Tussaud sculpting a waxwork and right her memorial plaque at the wax museum she founded in London Grosholtz inherited Curtius vast collection of wax models following his death in 1794 For the next 33 years she travelled around Europe with a touring show from the collection She married Francois Tussaud in 1795 took his surname and renamed her show as Madame Tussaud s In 1802 she accepted an invitation from lantern and phantasmagoria pioneer Paul Philidor to exhibit her work alongside his show at the Lyceum Theatre London A wave of creativity was in vogue in London when Tussaud arrived in the city with new West End stage plays which included the first to be called a melodrama the first appearance of Joseph Grimaldi in his whiteface clown character and poet William Wordsworth s poem Composed upon Westminster Bridge September 3 1802 describing London and the Thames 11 Adding her own creativity to the mix Tussaud brought with her all her death masks wax faces and busts 11 Complaining that Philidor failed to promote her Tussaud then decided to go into business alone 12 Unable to return to France because of the Napoleonic Wars she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection and made her home in London From 1831 she took a series of short leases on the upper floor of Baker Street Bazaar on the west side of Baker Street Dorset Street and King Street in London 13 This site was later featured in the Druce Portland case sequence of trials of 1898 1907 This became Tussaud s first permanent home in 1836 14 Origins edit nbsp Poster for the Tussaud wax figures exhibition Baker Street London 1835 By 1835 Marie Tussaud had settled down in Baker Street and opened a museum 2 One of her museum s main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors The name is often credited to a contributor to Punch in 1845 but Tussaud appears to have originated it herself using it in advertising as early as 1843 4 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 museum including Lord Nelson the Duke of Wellington Henry VIII and Queen Victoria 15 The early commercial success of Madame Tussaud s saw it establish itself as a brand and the museum became a pioneer in innovating various forms of publicity when the advertising industry was in its infancy 4 The Hall of Fame attraction exerted great influence among the public of Victorian London and inclusion in it was definitive proof one had attained celebrity status 4 In these days no one can be considered properly popular unless he is admitted into the company of Madame Tussaud s celebrities in Baker Street The only way in which a powerful and lasting impression can be made on the public is through the medium of wax You must be a doll at Madame Tussaud s before you can become an I dol l of the multitude Madame Tussaud has become in fact the only dispenser of permanent reputation The Tussaud Test of Popularity Punch 1849 4 nbsp Advertising man pasting a bill for Madame Tussaud s Chamber of Horrors London 1877 Early exhibits included Burke and Hare The chamber closed on 11 April 2016 and was replaced by the Sherlock Holmes Experience 16 Other businesses in Baker Street profited from being within close proximity to Madame Tussaud s and in 1860 Charles Dickens hailed the museum as one of London s most popular entertainments writing in All the Year Round Madame Tussaud s is something more than an exhibition it is an institution 17 A waxwork of Dickens appeared at the museum in 1873 three years after his death 18 Some sculptures still exist that were made by Marie Tussaud herself The gallery originally contained some 400 different figures but fire damage in 1925 coupled with bombs during the Blitz on London in 1941 severely damaged most of such older models 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 the work of Curtius from 1765 and part of the waxworks left to Grosholtz at his death Other faces from the time of Tussaud include Robespierre and George III 19 In 1842 she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum She died in her sleep in London on 16 April 1850 20 nbsp Entrance sign in London By 1883 the restricted space and rising cost of the Baker Street site prompted her grandson Joseph Randall to commission construction of a building at the museum s current location on Marylebone Road The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success 21 But Randall had bought out his cousin Louisa s half share in the business in 1881 and that plus the building costs resulted in his having too little capital He formed a limited company in 1888 to attract fresh capital but it had to be dissolved after disagreements between the family shareholders In February 1889 Tussaud s was sold to a group of businessmen led by Edwin Josiah Poyser 22 Tussaud s great grandson John Theodore Tussaud continued in his role as the museum s manager and chief artist 19 The first wax sculpture of a young Winston Churchill was made in 1908 a total of ten have been made since 23 The first overseas branch of Madame Tussauds was opened in Amsterdam in 1970 7 Ownership changes edit In 2005 Madame Tussauds was sold to a company in Dubai Dubai International Capital for 800m US 1 5bn In May 2007 The Blackstone Group purchased The Tussauds Group from then owner Dubai International Capital for US 1 9 billion 24 the company was merged with Blackstone s Merlin Entertainments and operation of Madame Tussauds was taken over by Merlin 24 25 After the Tussauds acquisition Dubai International Capital gained 20 of Merlin Entertainment 26 On 17 July 2007 as part of the financing for the Tussauds deal Merlin sold the freehold of Madame Tussauds to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement 27 Although the attraction sites are owned by Prestbury they are operated by Merlin based on a renewable 35 year lease 25 Recent status edit nbsp Madame Tussauds spelt without the apostrophe next to a waxwork of Kate Winslet in London Madame Tussaud s wax museum has been a major tourist attraction in London since it opened in the 1830s an era viewed as being when the city s tourism industry began 6 Until 2010 it incorporated the London Planetarium in its west wing A large animated dark ride The Spirit of London opened in 1993 Today s wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures film stars sports stars and famous murderers It has been known since 2007 as Madame Tussauds museums no apostrophe 28 In 2009 a 5 1 2 inches 14 cm waxwork of Tinker Bell the fairy from J M Barrie s Peter Pan became the museum s smallest figure of all time when it was unveiled in London 29 In July 2008 Madame Tussauds Berlin branch became embroiled in controversy when a 41 year old German man brushed past two guards and decapitated a wax figure depicting Adolf Hitler This was believed to be an act of protest against showing the ruthless dictator alongside sports heroes movie stars and other historical figures The statue has since been repaired and the perpetrator has admitted that he attacked the statue to win a bet 30 The original model of Hitler was unveiled in Madame Tussauds London in April 1933 it was frequently vandalised and a 1936 replacement had to be carefully guarded 31 32 33 In January 2016 the statue of Hitler was removed from the Chamber of Horrors section in the London museum in response to an open letter sent by a staff writer of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles followed by significant support for its removal from social media 34 The first Madame Tussauds in India opened in New Delhi on 1 December 2017 Its operator Merlin Entertainments planned an investment of 50 million pounds over the next 10 years 35 36 37 It features over 50 wax models including political and entertainment figures such as Ariana Grande Amitabh Bachchan Salman Khan Katrina Kaif Sachin Tendulkar Kim Kardashian Tom Cruise Leonardo DiCaprio Scarlett Johansson Angelina Jolie Asha Bhosle Kapil Dev and Mary Kom 38 On 30 December 2020 the holding company of Madame Tussauds in Delhi confirmed a temporary shutdown of the museum 39 It reopened in 2022 40 Museum locations edit nbsp Entry of Madame Tussauds in Berlin nbsp Madame Tussauds in New York City opened in 2000 nbsp Madame Tussauds opened in Washington D C in 2007 nbsp Madame Tussauds Hollywood in 2018 nbsp Madame Tussauds in Shanghai China displaying a wax figure of Queen Elizabeth II opened in 2006 Asia edit nbsp Beijing China 2014 41 nbsp Chongqing China 2016 42 nbsp Shanghai China 2006 43 nbsp Wuhan China 2013 44 nbsp Hong Kong 2000 45 nbsp Delhi India 2017 2020 2023 46 47 nbsp Tokyo Japan 2013 48 nbsp Singapore 2014 49 nbsp Bangkok Thailand 2010 50 nbsp Dubai United Arab Emirates 2021 51 Europe edit nbsp Amsterdam Netherlands 1970 52 nbsp Berlin Germany 2008 53 nbsp Blackpool United Kingdom 2011 54 nbsp Budapest Hungary 2023 55 nbsp Istanbul Turkey 2016 56 nbsp London United Kingdom 1835 57 nbsp Prague Czech Republic 2019 58 nbsp Vienna Austria 2011 59 North America edit nbsp Hollywood United States 2009 60 nbsp Las Vegas United States 1999 61 nbsp Nashville United States 2017 62 nbsp New York City United States 2000 63 nbsp Orlando United States 2015 64 nbsp San Francisco United States 2014 65 nbsp Washington D C United States 2007 2021 66 Oceania edit nbsp Sydney Australia 2012 67 In popular culture editCelebrity poses with their wax figures edit Celebrities have often posed like their wax figures as pranks and publicity stunts On 3 November 2009 the museum s New York City branch was featured in a segment on NBC s Today in which weatherman Al Roker posed in place of his lifelike wax figure for two hours and startled unsuspecting visitors who were at first led to believe they were viewing Roker s wax counterpart 68 NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin pranked fans during the unveiling of their statues at the New York and San Francisco museums respectively 69 70 In 2015 Arnold Schwarzenegger posed as the Terminator statue in the Hollywood museum to promote a charity event 71 Ant and Dec pranked Olly Murs by tricking him into using a machine that will scan every part of Olly s face and body to create the most accurate wax figure ever as a part of their annual Undercover segment on their show Ant and Dec s Saturday Night Takeaway 72 Music edit Madame Tussauds is the focus of Steve Taylor s song Meltdown at Madame Tussauds which describes someone turning up the thermostat and causing the wax figures to melt 73 Taylor wrote the song as a new metaphor to ask the same question as Jesus What good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul 74 The Beatles had their wax figures featured along with cardboard cutouts of various famous people in the cover art for Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967 75 Madame Tussauds sculptures are used on the cover of Rick Wakeman s album The Six Wives of Henry VIII A waxwork of Richard Nixon also appears in the background 76 List of wax figures editMain article List of wax figures displayed at Madame Tussauds museumsGallery edit nbsp Madame Tussaud herself at Madame Tussauds in London Her death mask is visible in the background on the left nbsp The Beatles nbsp King Charles III and Queen Camilla nbsp Charlie Chaplin nbsp Pope John Paul II Archbishop Desmond Tutu the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Makarios III nbsp Princess Diana nbsp Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow nbsp Elizabeth I nbsp Kylie Minogue nbsp Lady Gaga nbsp Marilyn Monroe nbsp Cristiano Ronaldo nbsp Nelson Mandela nbsp Mahatma Gandhi nbsp Adolf Hitler formerly in the Chamber of Horrors section in London See also editMadame Tussauds Amsterdam Madame Tussauds Bangkok Madame Tussauds Beijing Madame Tussauds Blackpool Madame Tussauds Delhi Madame Tussauds Dubai Madame Tussauds Hollywood Madame Tussauds Hong Kong Madame Tussauds Istanbul Madame Tussauds Las Vegas Madame Tussauds Nashville Madame Tussauds New York Madame Tussauds Orlando Madame Tussauds Rock Circus 1989 2001 London Madame Tussauds San Francisco Madame Tussauds Shanghai Madame Tussauds Singapore Madame Tussauds Sydney Madame Tussauds Tokyo Madame Tussauds Vienna Madame Tussauds Washington D C Notes edit The family themselves pronounce it ˈ t uː s oʊ citation needed References edit Wells John C 2009 Tussaud s Longman Pronunciation Dictionary London Pearson Longman ISBN 978 1 4058 8118 0 a b The History of Madame Tussauds Archived 13 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Madame Tussauds com Rothstein Edward 24 August 2007 Ripley s Believe It or Not Madame Tussauds The New York Times Retrieved 12 May 2010 Madame Tussaud who gave the attraction its now jettisoned apostrophe a b c d e Berridge Kate 2006 Madame Tussaud A life in wax New York HarperCollins p 4 ISBN 978 0 06 052847 8 The Law Journal Reports Volume 96 E B Ince p 328 a b Smith Andrew Graham Anne 2019 Destination London The Expansion of the Visitor Economy University of Westminster Press p 6 Whilst London s appeal is based on historical attractions that date back to Roman times the city s tourism industry arguably dates back to the nineteenth century In the period 1820 1840 new facilities were established that still provide the backbone of the city s tourism sector iconic attractions London Zoo Madame Tussauds leisure settings a b Madame Tussauds to open shop in Delhi The Times of India 13 November 2015 a b The Baker Street Bazaar 26 May 2012 Du Plessis Amelia England Madame Tussauds Informational site about England Archived from the original on 13 December 2011 Retrieved 12 July 2011 Marie Tussaud Facts information pictures Encyclopedia com articles about Marie Tussaud Encyclopedia com Retrieved 28 March 2016 a b Walton Geri 2019 Chapter 15 page 1 Madame Tussaud Her Life and Legacy Pen amp Sword Books How Madame Tussaud built her house of wax National Geographic Retrieved 9 April 2024 Pilbeam 2006 pp 102 106 Pilbeam 2006 pp 100 104 Timbs John 1868 Curiosities of London Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis with Nearly Sixty Years Personal Recollections Longmans Green Reader and Dyer p 819 Now you too can play at being Sherlock Holmes iNews Retrieved 5 July 2020 All the Year Round Volume 2 Charles Dickens 1860 p 250 Litvack Leon Vanfasse Nathalie 2020 Reading Dickens Differently Wiley p 213 a b In pictures The curious history of Madame Tussauds The Telegraph Retrieved 11 April 2024 Wilson Scott 16 September 2016 Resting Places The Burial Sites of More Than 14 000 Famous Persons 3d ed McFarland p 762 ISBN 9781476625997 Retrieved 30 November 2017 Pilbeam ibid pp 166 168 9 Pilbeam ibid p 170 Pamela Pilbeam Madame Tussaud And the History of Waxworks P 199 a b Cho David 6 March 2007 Blackstone Buys Madame Tussauds Chain The Washington Post a b Merlin conjures up leaseback deal The Daily Telegraph 17 July 2007 Tussauds firm bought in 1bn deal BBC News 5 March 2007 Alton Towers sold in 622m deal BBC News 17 July 2007 Retrieved 12 May 2010 10 Things You Might Not Know About Madame Tussauds Wax Museum Mental Floss Retrieved 15 May 2021 Tinker Bell Immortalized at Madame Tussauds AWN Retrieved 15 July 2023 Adolf Hitler returns to Berlin museum after beheading meeja com au 14 September 2008 Archived from the original on 19 September 2008 Retrieved 14 September 2008 Pilbeam ibid p 199 Madame Tussauds to repair beheaded Hitler Associated Press 7 July 2008 Retrieved 7 July 2008 Carrel Paul 5 July 2008 Man rips head from Hitler wax figure Reuters Gur Arieh Noga 6 January 2016 Madame Tussauds Museum in London Removed Hitler Figure The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles Retrieved 14 June 2021 1 Madame Tussauds no longer an apostrophe Madame Tussauds debuts in Delhi BBC News 1 December 2017 Retrieved 1 December 2017 Madame Tussauds Delhi to officially open for public on December 1 The Indian Express 30 November 2017 Retrieved 1 December 2017 Take a sneak peek into India s first Madame Tussauds in Delhi Wax figure of PM Narendra Modi The Economic Times Wax museum feels Delhi heat Madame Tussauds shuts The Indian Express 30 December 2020 Retrieved 31 December 2020 Madame Tussauds to Reopen in Delhi in 2022 to Offer Discount for Covid Warriors Jabbed Visitors 24 May 2021 Madame Tussauds Beijing in Chinese madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Chongqing in Chinese madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Shanghai in Chinese madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Wuhan in Chinese madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Hong Kong in Chinese madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Delhi madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Opens Today at Noida s DLF Mall Noida News Times of India The Times of India 19 July 2022 Madame Tussauds Tokyo in Japanese madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Singapore madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Bangkok madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds attraction to open in Dubai in 2021 Madame Tussauds Amsterdam in Dutch madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Berlin in German madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Blackpool madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Egy szobaban Beyonce Szechenyi Hszi Csin ping es Zambo Jimmy bemutattak a budapesti Madame Tussauds t hvg hu in Hungarian 23 May 2023 Retrieved 23 May 2023 Madame Tussauds Istanbul in Turkish madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds London madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Prague in Czech madametussauds com Archived from the original on 11 September 2018 Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Vienna in German madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Hollywood madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Las Vegas madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Nashville madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds New York madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Orlando madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds San Francisco madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Washington D C madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 Madame Tussauds Sydney madametussauds com Retrieved 4 May 2017 The Weather Channel 30 December 2009 Al makes people jump out of their skin via YouTube Carmelo Anthony Takes The Time To Prank Visitors at Madame Tussaud s NBA com All Ball Blog with Lang Whitaker National Basketball Association Pincus Eric 11 September 2014 Jeremy Lin pranks at Madame Tussauds pretends to be wax likeness Los Angeles Times Entertain This Daily hits and misses in pop culture USA Today Watch Ant amp Dec prank Olly Murs for Saturday Night Takeaway Digital Spy Retrieved 13 July 2023 Meltdown At Madame Tussaud s Meltdown Steve Taylor Discography Sock Heaven Retrieved 14 November 2010 Cloning Around With Steve Taylor Todays Christian Music Archived from the original on 12 March 2017 Retrieved 10 March 2017 Beatles waxworks sell for 81 500 BBC 28 October 2005 Wooding Dan 1978 Rick Wakeman The Caped Crusader p 104 Granada Publishing Limited Bibliography editBerridge Kate 2006 Madame Tussaud A life in wax New York HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 06 052847 8 Chapman Pauline 1984 Madame Tussaud s Chamber of Horrors Two Hundred Years of Crime London Constable ISBN 0 09 465620 7 Deakin Johnston and Markesinis 2008 Markesinis amp Deakin s Tort Law Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 928246 3 Herve Francis ed 1838 Madame Tussaud s Memoirs and Reminiscences of France forming an abridged history of the French Revolution London Saunders amp Otley McCallam David 2002 Waxing Revolutionary Reflections on a Raid on a Waxworks at the Outbreak of the French Revolution French History 16 2 153 173 doi 10 1093 fh 16 2 153 Moran Michelle 2011 Madame Tussaud A Novel of the French Revolution Crown ISBN 978 0 307 58865 4 Pilbeam Pamela 2006 Madame Tussaud And the History of Waxworks Continuum International Publishing Group pp 100 104 ISBN 1 85285 511 8 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Madame Tussauds category Official website nbsp 51 31 22 N 0 09 19 W 51 52278 N 0 15528 W 51 52278 0 15528 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Madame Tussauds amp 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