A wax museum is a collection of life like figures of real people made out of wax. Undoubtedly the most famous wax museum is Madame Tussauds. Other famous wax Museums include the Movieland Wax Museum and the Hollywood Wax Museum. The wax models resemble the personalities quite well and it makes even a wild guess difficult when both the real and the model is placed together.

Madam Tussauds is a name synonymous with wax museums. IT was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. She learnt the art of wax modeling from her mother's employer Dr. Philippe Curtius. Her first wax figure was a sculpture of Voltaire. She also made models of prominent people in the French Revolution. In order to exhibit her collection she traveled extensively throughout Great Britain and Ireland. She finally settled down in Baker Street in London and opened a Museum there. One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This held wax sculptures of victims of the French Revolution, murderes and other criminals.

Today Madame Tussauds is easily the most famous wax Museum in the world. It has grown to be one of the biggest tourist attractions of London. With its gaining popularity it has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Berlin, Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Shangai and Hollywood. The figures at this world famous wax museum include historical and royal characters, film stars, sports stars and even well known criminals.

One of the most famous wax museums in the United States used to be the Movieland wax museum. But this was permanently shut down in 2005. However while it functioned it was very popular. It was the largest wax museum in the United States and had nearly 300 wax figures of famous Hollywood movie stars. The costumes of the wax figures were often original ones donated by the stars themselves. This generally gave the originality of the piece and resembled very well to the great personalities.

The museum was brightly lit spacious and colorful. The sets around the wax figures were well known scenes form famous movies with attention paid even to minor details. Unfortunately this once famous wax museum had to close down because of dwindling attendance. Even after the closure, the museum is well known or is remembered for its excellence and how the entire ambience was maintained.

The longest running wax museum in the United States is undoubtedly the Hollywood Wax Museum. It is located on Hollywood Boulevard on the Hollywood walk of Fame. This famous wax museum is one of Hollywood's premiere attractions. It houses life like wax images of silver screen icons in popular roles they played. The Hollywood Wax Museum has branches in Missouri and Tenessee. Recent remodeling of the museum in Branson Missouri has introduced an animated ride and a mirror maze.

Other popular wax museums include Musee Conti Wax Museum in New Orleans, the Wax Museum at Fisherman'sWharf in San Francisco and the Royal London Wax Museum in Canada.
About the Author