Madame Tussauds London: A Tour with the World’s Most Eminent Figures

Among the many attractions one can enjoy visiting in London is the iconic Madame Tussauds London. This place, whose construction dates back to 1835, is probably the world’s first wax museum and is currently the most well-known one. It also started a massive chain of similar museums, all under the same name and authorisation, all of which came into existence because of the brilliant French wax modeller Marie Tussaud.

Originally spelt Madame Tussaud’s, with an apostrophe removed later, Madame Tussauds London provides a fantastic opportunity to meet and take pictures with the world’s most prominent figures and celebrities, something that most of us long for but rarely get to experience.

The museum is also the perfect place to be mesmerised by the incredible human talent that can depict even the slightest features and use them to create excellent and highly realistic life-size wax sculptures that are extremely hard to tell apart from accurate human models!

Madame Tussauds London was created by Marie Tussaud and is located on Marylebone Road, London. It was on Baker Street long before some financial difficulties required relocation. In 1970, the first overseas Madame Tussauds was opened in Amsterdam, whose success encouraged the creation of 21 other branches in the world’s most global cities.

But to understand the significance of Madame Tussauds London and why it is a must-visit attraction, we need to explore the life of the main reason why it came into and still exists.

Marie Tussaud

So Marie Tussaud was originally Marie Grosholtz, and Tussaud was her husband’s last name, which she acquired due to their marriage. Ironically, the marriage itself was quite a disappointment for both parties. It was just the name meant to live eternally, not their love, and it became one of the most famous names in art.

Early childhood

Marie was born in 1761 in Strasbourg, France, yet she spent most of her early childhood years in Bern, Switzerland. Her mother, who became Marie’s only parent after her father died, was working as a housekeeper for a famous Swiss wax modeller named Philippe Curtius.

Curtius was originally a physician but had an obsession with wax modelling. His fantastic talent enabled him to create highly accurate anatomical wax sculptures that he used in his anatomy lessons.

As he was not married, Curtius treated Marie like his daughter, and she was very close to him. From a very young age, six years old, Marie started learning everything about wax modelling. When Curtius saw her interest and potential, he began to teach her the basic anatomy required to make wax sculptures. Then Marie started experimenting with wax herself.

Marie’s life changed again when Curtius decided to give up on medicine and dedicate the rest of his life to wax modelling. To do that, he had to relocate to Paris, and where else could he embrace and contain his huge artistic ambitions? As a result, all three of them—Curtius, Marie, and the mother—travelled to the City of Art.

Teenage years

Once in Paris, Curtius immersed himself in wax modelling and started promoting his work. He debuted by creating his first exhibition in 1770, which was moved to the Royal Palace in 1776. This was followed by another more distinct exhibition a few years later. Curtius’ work inspired Marie and taught her so much about this art that she could make her first sculpture, one of Voltaire, only at 16.

Then came what would later start a series of changes that, in pretty much a butterfly effect manner, would eventually make Marie the Madame Tussaud the world knows today. That was when she got a job to teach art to the sister of King Louis XVI of France. Marie enjoyed this job for a few years, during which she became close to the French royal family.

Death masks

While this is such a great honour, the royal job took its toll on Marie afterwards. When the French Revolution broke out, resulting in chaos nationwide and the execution of the King and the Queen of France themselves. Among those who were arrested due to being close to the Royal Family was you guessed it, Marie. She was sent to prison only to wait for execution. However, a twist in destiny made a friend interfere to release her from jail.

This period was quite incredibly transforming in Marie’s life. Her obsession with wax modelling seemed to have reached such high levels that she made tens of death masks of those who were executed, basically beheaded, or killed in crimes. Once she heard a crime took place somewhere, she would rush to the crime scene and get the first impression of the dead face without feeling even a bit of fear. Or maybe she did feel afraid, but her stamina allowed her to take that all in.

Anyways.

The result of this horrific activity was a vast number of death masks that made up Marie’s very first collection, which she put on display for the first time in London. This was an invitation to present her work in a joint show with a German magic lantern artist in 1802.

Tours

Around that time, Marie was unable to return to France because Monsieur Napoleon attacked every country opposed to the revolution, creating even more chaos in the country. So she decided to go on tours in Britain and Ireland to show her work, which she did for the next 30 years.

During that period, Marie’s sculpting skills levelled up so much that she created sculptures of Europe’s elite and other well-known personalities in Britain. Her collection included sculptures of Queen Victoria and King Henry VIII.

In 1835, Marie felt it was time to settle down. So she returned to London, found a place on Baker Street, and opened her permanent exhibition, Marie Tussaud’s, to display her fantastic work.

Marie Tussaud’s

Marie was a genuinely passionate artist who used to put her heart and soul into her art. So when she opened the museum on Baker Street, which crowned her long journey, she gave all she could to produce it in the best way possible.

So she took much care of how the exhibits were organised, welcomed the visitors herself and provided chairs so they could take their time and mesmerise at the beauty of her creations. This contributed to the museum’s success, and more and more visitors visited it to meet her in person and enjoy her work.

In the museum, Marie created the famous Chamber of Horror, where she displayed the death masks she made during the chaotic period of the French Revolution and many other wax sculptures of criminals. Curtius might have inspired Marie to do this idea, who also had an exhibition of some of London’s criminals of the time.

Relocation 

The museum opened in 1835 and proved a massive success over the following 15 years. When Marie died in 1850, the museum’s administration was moved to her sons, who took much care of it and well-preserved their mother’s artistic legacy. They continued to work hard to attract visitors.

Yet, in the mid-1880s, the family could not afford the rent of the museum on Baker Street anymore after it was raised to some unexpected and unattainable levels. So, they moved the museum to another building on Marylebone Road that they constructed from scratch specifically for this purpose. The new location was only a four-minute walk from the former one.

Ownership

In 1884, the new Madame Tussaud’s opened and proved just as successful. Yet, things were meant to get complicated again when a financial hardship forced Marie’s family to sell it in 1889 to some businessmen who took over its operation.

Thanks to those businessmen, the museum started to expand. They hired other talented wax modellers to create new sculptures of celebrities and displayed them in the museum alongside Marie’s.

Such an expansion created room for establishing new branches under the same name to present the waxwork of professional artists. In 1970, Madame Tussauds Amsterdam, the first branch ever, was opened. Then, other branches were opened in Hong Kong and the United States.

In 2005, the London museum and all other branches were sold once again to Dubai International Capital Company and then to Blackstone, Inc., which merged them into Merlin Entertainment. This is an entertainment company in England that specialises in operating museums. It did a pretty good job opening more overseas branches and developing and renovating the original Marie Tussauds London.

Madame Tussauds London

Respelled without an apostrophe, Madame Tussauds London has become a fantastic tourist attraction and one of the city’s most iconic places that provide entertaining experiences no one wants to miss.

The museum has three floors and hosts over 150 life-size figures of celebrities and famous personalities from England and the rest of the world. These 150 sculptures are divided into eight zones and five experiences.

Zones

As we just mentioned, there are eight different zones in the museum. You can think of them as categories that help organise the sculptures in the best way possible.

The most iconic zone in the museum is the Royals, which features statues of members of the royal family. There, you can find sculptures of King Charles and Queen Camilla and others of Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip, Prince William, and Princess Catherine. There is also a sculpture of Princess Diana. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s statues are found in a different zone.

Inside the Royals zone, one can also find not one but three sculptures of British actress Helen Mirren since she was given the honorary title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services in film and drama. In addition, other figures of celebrities were honoured by the Royals.

The Music Zone also features the figures of some of the world’s most famous singers, including Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Freddie Mercury, and red-haired Ed Sheeran.

The Awards Party zone is by far the newest zone in Madame Tussauds London. It features sculptures of famous A-list celebrities, many of whom received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, or any other well-regarded award. Visitors can meet Angelina Jolie, Eddie Redmayne, Brad Pitt, Tom Hardy, Dwayne Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

It is also the Awards Party, where one can find statues of David and Victoria Beckham, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and famous Bollywood actors, including Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.

Another exciting zone in the museum is dedicated to iconic film characters called film. For instance, there are six sculptures of the actors who played James Bond, The Terminator, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, and film director Steven Spielberg.

Other zones include Sports, Culture, where a figure of Winston Churchill was added, Star Wars, and the Marvel Hall of Heroes, which features Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain America, and Nick Fury.

Experiences

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TG3LUtDDu4

The other section of Madame Tussauds London offers visitors different experiences. The first one is the Marvel Universe 4D, a 4D film made with the wax figures of the Marvel superheroes found in the Marvel Hall of Heroes zone.

However, the most fantastic experience in the museum could be the Chamber of Horror, which Marie Tussaud herself created. This is where sculptures of some of the most notorious criminals and serial killers in London are found. Many artefacts are related to criminals or found in crime scenes.

The sculptures are organised to create an atmosphere of suspense, using dim light in some places, flashlights in others, smoke, and music. That is why this experience is not recommended for those who suffer from high blood pressure, cannot stand loud noises or flashing lights, pregnant women, or children under the age of 16.

The museum offers three other experiences: Alien Escape, Kong: Skull Island, and the Spirit of London.

Tickets

Since it is a private museum, admission to Madame Tussauds London is paid. The museum provides various tickets and prices that hopefully match all preferences. For instance, the Standard ticket includes seeing all 150 sculptures at the museum and offers three experiences. The Fast Track ticket is more expensive but provides faster entry to the museum. The Ultimate VIP gives visitors unlimited permission to take pictures and offers them a guidebook on the museum’s history. 

There are also Family tickets, but those are available only on Mondays and Thursdays.

While visitors can still show up at the museum without prior planning, it is always recommended that they buy their tickets online and choose a specified time slot for their visits. It is also cheaper than buying tickets at the museum.

Even more interesting is the availability of tickets to other London attractions besides museum admission at reasonable prices. These attractions include the London Eye, the Sea Life London Aquarium, Big Bus Standard, the London Dungeon, and Shrek’s Adventure.

There are also discounts when multiple tickets are bought together online.

Merlin Entertainment, the company that runs Madame Tussauds London, offers annual passes with access to more than 30 of London’s top attractions and many other features. There is the Discovery Pass, the Silver Pass, the Gold Pass, and the Platinum Pass.

The museum is open every day from 10:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon. This is the standard timing, but admission can be allowed until 4:00 pm on other days. Any changes to the opening times can be seen on the museum’s website.

Madame Tussauds London is the world’s most famous and largest wax museum. It provides the amazing experience of meeting the world’s most prominent figures, from royals, actors, and singers to sports personalities, politicians, and film characters, taking pictures with them, and marvelling at the incredible talent of some of the world’s most professional wax modellers.

If you are already in London or planning to spend your next vacation there, check out our other story on the nine places you must visit to have the most authentic, beautiful, and diverse London experience.