Wax museums display realistic wax figures of celebrities and often feature a “Chamber of Horrors.” Madame Tussaud invented the wax museum and her London location remains popular. Other major wax museums include Hollywood Wax Museum and National Great Blacks Wax Museum. Some museums portray specific themes or historical moments.
A wax museum features a collection of realistic wax figures typically representing celebrities. Many wax museums also feature a “Chamber of Horrors” which depicts famous criminals in action and other gruesome scenes. Visitors to a wax museum are usually allowed to take photographs of themselves with the wax figures.
Marie Tussaud is credited with inventing the wax museum. She learned the art of wax modeling from her employer, Dr. Philippe Curtius, and became a celebrity in late 18th century Paris, sculpting famous figures of the time such as Voltaire and Marie Antoinette. Although she was imprisoned and scheduled for execution, she was released due to her skill as a wax sculptor.
Marie Tussaud opened her first permanent wax museum, including a Chamber of Horrors depicting the excesses of the French Revolution which she narrowly escaped, on London’s Baker Street in 1835. In 1884 she moved to Marylebone Road, where remains today. Madame Tussaud’s wax museum has been a popular tourist attraction since it opened and now has branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and Las Vegas. Additional locations are planned in Hollywood and Washington, DC.
In addition to Madame Tussauds, there are many independent wax museums, usually located in tourist areas. The Movieland Wax Museum, which opened in 1962 in Buena Park, California, was the largest wax museum in the United States until it closed in 2005. Other major wax museums include the Fisherman’s Wharf Wax Museum in San Francisco, California , and the Royal London Wax Museum in Victoria, British Columbia.
Some wax museums portray a particular theme. The Hollywood Wax Museum in Hollywood, California offers a collection of wax figures depicting movie stars and movie monsters. The National Great Blacks Wax Museum in Baltimore, Maryland is a tribute to African American history, depicting notable black figures in U.S. history and the horrors of slavery. The wax museum at Diósgyőr Castle in Hungary depicts a variety of scenes from medieval life. It is also common for wax museums to represent important characters and moments in the history of the country or city in which they are located.
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