What Is The Most Famous Wax Museum?

The most renowned wax museum in the world is the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London, England. It was established by Madame Marie Tussaud (nee Marie Grosholtz), a Frenchwoman who worked as a housekeeper for Dr Philippe Curtius. Curtius was a doctor who was also a talented wax sculptor, who taught the Strasbourg-born Madame Tussaud (1761 to 1850) the art of creating wax models. Among the first wax models she created were famous personalities such as the French writers Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (whose waxwork was created in 1777) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the versatile American inventor/scientist/statesman/author Benjamin Franklin. Some of the personalities whose waxworks were added to her collection when she moved to England in 1802 were Horatio Nelson and Sir Walter Scott.

The museum, which is one of London's most prominent tourist attractions, moved to its present location, Marylebone Road in 1884 and has now opened up in other well-known tourist destinations across the world, including Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Hollywood, Las Vegas, New York City and Shanghai.