Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds, waxworks museum in London, founded by Marie Tussaud, a Swiss modeller in wax, in 1835.

Marie Tussaud (1760-1850) was born Marie Grosholtz in Bern, Switzerland, and was taken to Paris by her uncle, who taught her wax modelling. She married François Tussaud in 1794. She became art tutor to Madame Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI. During the French Revolution she was imprisoned as a royalist and forced to make death masks of many renowned people who were executed at the guillotine.

Marie Tussaud inherited her father’s waxworks and in 1802 went to England. She eventually settled in Baker Street, London, founding Madame Tussaud’s Exhibition in 1835. The museum is now in Marylebone Road. Many of the waxworks on display, including those of Horatio Nelson and Sir Walter Scott, are original models made by Madame Tussaud herself. The collection, which now includes lifesize models of historical figures as well as present-day heads of state, politicians, entertainers, and other celebrities, is constantly updated. A Chamber of Horrors houses waxworks of notorious criminals and objects connected with famous crimes. All the wax figures are noted for their remarkable realism.

The museum is a popular London tourist attraction, drawing 2.5 million visitors each year. Madame Tussauds exists at six other sites around the world: Amsterdam (opened 1971); Las Vegas (1999); Hong Kong S. A. R. (2000); New York (2000); Shanghai (2006); and Washington, D.C. (2007).