Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London, England, with branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong (Victoria Peak), Las Vegas and New York. Madame Tussaud is Marie Tussaud, born in Strasbourg on 1 December 1761, her name was Marie Grosholtz (sometimes spelled Grossholtz or Grossholz). Her father was a soldier named Joseph Grosholtz. He died before she was born, killed in the Seven Years' War. Her mother, Anne Made, took her to Berne were she moved to work as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius. Curtius was a physician, born in 1741. He was skilled with wax, which he used to illustrate anatomy. Later he started to do portraits. Tussaud called him uncle. Curtius moved to Paris in 1765, starting work to set up a wax figure cabinet. In that year he made a wax work of Marie Jean du Barry, Louis XV's mistress. A cast of that mould is the oldest work currently on display. In 1767 Tussaud and her mother joined Curtius and also moved to Paris. The first exhibition of Curtius' wax works was shown in 1770, and attracted a lot of people. The exhibition moved to the Palais Royal 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. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling. She started to work for him and showed a lot of talent. She created her first wax figure in 1778, it was of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Other famous persons she did in that time include Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. In Paris Tussaud became involved in the French Revolution. She met many of its important figures, including Napoleon and Robespierre. On the other hand she was also on very good terms with the royalty. In particular, from 1780 up to the revolution in 1789 she taught art to the sister of Louis XVI. In fact so pleased were they with here, that on their invitation she moved to live at Versailles. On 12 July 1789 wax heads of Necker and the duc d'Orléans made by Curtius were carried in a protest march two days before the revolution. But Tussaud was arrested by the revolution on suspicion of royalist sympathies. In prison she awaited execution by guillotine together with Joséphine de Beauharnais. Even tough Tussauds head was already shaven for her execution she was saved for her talent in wax work and employed to make death masks of the victims of the guillotine. Some of which were personal friends of hers. Among others she made death masks of Marie Antoinette, Marat and Robespierre. When Curtius died 1794 he left his collection of wax works to Tussaud. In 1795 she married François Tussaud. They have two children, Joseph and François In 1802 Marie Tussaud went to London together with her first son, Joseph, then 4 years old. Her second son staying behind. As a result of the French-England war she was unable to return to France. With her collection she travelled throughout Great-Britain and Ireland. In 1821 or 1822 her second son joins her again. She established her first permanent exhibition in Baker Street in 1835 (on the "Baker Street Bazaar") In 1838 she wrote her Memoirs. In 1842 she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. 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 but also newly created figures of murders and other criminals. The name was given by a contributor to Punch in 1845. Also famous people were added to the exhibition, including Horatio Nelson, and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Tussaud herself still exist. She died in her sleep on 16 April 1850 in London. The museum moved to its current location on Marylebone Road in 1884. In 1925 a fire destroyed many of the figures, but fortunately the moulds survived allowing the historical wax works to be resurrected. Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to one of the major tourist attraction in London and also incorporates the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong (Victoria Peak), Las Vegas and New York. Today wax figures of the Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. References and External Links Madame Tussaud's memoirs and reminiscences of France, by Marie Tussaud, ed. by F. Hervé, London 1838. Areion Online: Marie Tussaud. Biography of Marie Tussaud (in german) History of Madame Tussauds. List of dates in Marie Tussauds life, maintained by the museum. Waxing Revolutionary: Reflections on a raid on a waxworks at the outbreak of the french revolution, by David McCallam, French History, vol 16, No. 2. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.