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Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London, with branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, New York City and Shanghai (open soon). It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud.
Madame Tussaud (1761-1850), born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling. In 1765 Curtius made a waxwork of Marie Jean du Barry, Louis XV's mistress. A cast of that mould is the oldest work currently on display. The first exhibition of Curtius' waxworks was shown in 1770 and attracted a large audience. The exhibition moved to the Palais Royal in Paris in 1776. He opened a second location on Boulevard du Temple in 1782, the "Caverne des Grands Voleurs", a precursor to the later Chamber of Horrors.
When Curtius died in 1794, he left his collection of waxworks to Marie. In 1802 she went to London. As a result of the Franco-English war, she was unable to return to France, so with her collection she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland. She established her first permanent exhibition on Baker Street in London in 1835 (on the "Baker Street Bazaar").
One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included some victims of the French Revolution and also newly created figures of murderers and other criminals. The name was given by a contributor to Punch in 1845.
Other famous people were added to the exhibition including Horatio Nelson and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Tussaud herself still exist. In 1842, she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum.
The museum moved to its current location on Marylebone Road in 1884. In 1925 a fire destroyed many of the figures but the moulds survived, allowing the historical waxworks to be remade.
Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction in London, incorporating the London Planetarium in its west wing. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Tussauds)
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