photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Jeff | profile | all galleries >> Madame Tussaud's New York tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Madame Tussaud's New York

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London, with branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong (Victoria Peak), Las Vegas, New York City, Niagara Falls, Ontario and Shanghai (open soon). It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud.

Madame Tussaud (1761–1850), born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg, worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius, 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.

Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous persons she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she made wax death masks of prominent victims. She would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of the citizens which the death masks were to depict. 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. It has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong (Victoria Peak), Las Vegas, and New York City. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. Known as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe), they are owned by a leisure company called The Tussauds Group.
g4/63/505063/3/64470240.uvUdMUTE.jpg Sam Jackson
Sam Jackson
42nd Street
42nd Street
The Hulk
The Hulk
RuPaul
RuPaul
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Nathan Lane & Mathew Broderick
Nathan Lane & Mathew Broderick
Robin Williams
Robin Williams
g4/63/505063/3/64470259.uUvG8osy.jpg g4/63/505063/3/64470270.DQx3XXMl.jpg Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
George Clooney
George Clooney
Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Nathan Lane & Mathew Broderick II
Nathan Lane & Mathew Broderick II
Turner & Trump
Turner & Trump
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts II
Julia Roberts II
g4/63/505063/3/64470285.dYxtrkg0.jpg Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
Woody Allen
Woody Allen
RuPaul
RuPaul
John Travolta
John Travolta
Madonna
Madonna
Madonna II
Madonna II
g4/63/505063/3/64470315.l5N8pzUt.jpg
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie with Shiloh
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie with Shiloh
Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin
Madame Tussaud
Madame Tussaud
g4/63/505063/3/64470330.niUDzh5E.jpg George Bush W
George Bush "W"
Jefferson & Lincoln
Jefferson & Lincoln
Gandhi
Gandhi
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
Princess Di
Princess Di
Mikhal Gorbachev
Mikhal Gorbachev
Golda Meir
Golda Meir
Einstein
Einstein
Einstein II
Einstein II
Einstein III
Einstein III
Firefighters 911
Firefighters 911
FDR
FDR
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
President John F. Kennedy & Jackie O
President John F. Kennedy & Jackie O
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
g4/63/505063/3/64470368.BPwsw7qB.jpg
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp II
Johnny Depp II
Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
g4/63/505063/3/64470380.GteFBvhv.jpg Fred & Ginger
Fred & Ginger
g4/63/505063/3/64470384.rEkbpmdy.jpg Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe II
Marilyn Monroe II
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Elvis
Elvis
John Wayne
John Wayne
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Buzz Aldrin & Neil Armstrong
Buzz Aldrin & Neil Armstrong
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Elton John
Elton John
Elton John II
Elton John II
Pele
Pele
Madonna III
Madonna III
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Bill Shoemaker
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Bill Shoemaker
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Prince
Prince
Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
g4/63/505063/3/64470433.u5PRXRQY.jpg Roker & Lauer
Roker & Lauer
g4/63/505063/3/64470437.pQyhig4I.jpg Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck II
Wolfgang Puck II
Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell II
Simon Cowell II
Will Smith
Will Smith
Superman
Superman
Brandon Routh
Brandon Routh
Al Roker
Al Roker
The Westin
The Westin
g4/63/505063/3/64470264.7ZmJVTim.jpg g4/63/505063/3/64470266.S0IgI2Ci.jpg The Button
The Button