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Marie

Tussaud's biography

Madame Tussaud (Appendix №1) was born Marie Gosoltz in Strasbourg in 1761. Her father was killed in the seven-year war, two months before Marie was born. She and her mother lived alone; her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr Philippe Curtis, a skilled wax sculptor. It was from this `uncle' that Marie learned her art as a child and after he had moved to Pads, where he scored a fashionable success, she and her mother joined him and she became his assistant and soon Marie was allowed to make the wax masks of many famous people. Then Marie created her first wax figure, of Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous persons she modeled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. She served the French royal court for many years. In the 1780s she was employed to teach Madame Elizabeth, Louis XVI's sister, and met the King and many of the royal family, she met also of the leading French aristocrats and intellectuals of the day and she modeled both Voltaire and Rousseau from life¹. In one episode, the leaders of the mob that hacked the Princess de Lamballe to pieces stood over Marie while she took a cast of the severed head, its auburn hair horribly smeared with blood. Marie had known the princess and liked her. She made a mould of the head of Louis XVI himself after his execution. When Marat was stabbed in his bath by Charlotte Corday, the National Assembly instructed Marie to make his death mask and sketch the scene exactly for the painter David. She took a cast of Charlotte Corday's face, too, after her execution, and later modeled the severed heads of both Marie Antoinette and Robespierre. During the French Revolution she and her mother came very close to being executed themselves. They shared a cell for a while with Josephine de Beauharnais, who after the revolution married Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and became Empress. Marie made the death mask of the Queen of France, as well as many other accused criminals who were executed by the guillotine in the French Revolution. These death masks are still on display, with the guillotine blade used in the actual execution.

When Dr. Curtis died in 1795, he left Marie his entire wax sculpture exhibition, which already had become quite famous in France. That same year she married François Tussaud and had three children - one daughter and two sons, Joseph and Francis, but the marriage was not a success and Marie never saw him again after 1802, when she took the boys and her waxworks across the Channel and began years of successful touring round the towns of England, Scotland and Ireland Eight years later, she moved to England with her oldest son, and began touring the British Isles. During the British tour the exhibition survived many perils, for example, in 1822 a ship carrying the exhibition to Ireland hit a rock, but most of the sculptures were saved. In 1835, Madame Tussaud's wax cabinet settled in Baker Street, London. (Appendix №1)  

Marie's sons joined her in the business, but well into her eighties Madame herself liked to sit at the entrance to her exhibition rooms and collect the public's shillings. A painting of 1845 shows her at her collecting table her shrewd blue eyes staring measuringly at the onlooker through the spectacles perched on her long nose, as if she was appraising someone for a waxwork. Towards the end, as she began to suffer

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from severe asthma, she rediscovered her Roman Catholic faith.

Marie Tussaud died in 1850; Her sons were at her bedside when she died and her last words were to beg them never to quarrel. She was buried in the Catholic chapel in the Fulham Road, where many French exiles had gone before her. Her coffin was subsequently moved to St Mary's in Cadogan Street. She was eighty-nine and one of the nineteenth century's most successful career women when she died at her London home in Baker Street. Surviving a dangerous and singularly gruesome past, she had made herself a household name in her adopted country and Madame Tussaud's has remained one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions to this day. Madame Tussaud was a remarkable character in so many ways; she was a shrewd businesswoman, as well as a master-craftswoman. She gave Madame Tussaud's a reputation which cannot be destroyed as long as the workers, who, guided by her spirit, do everything they can to protect the history of perfection which Madame Tussaud's stands for today.

The life of madam Tussaud was interesting and full of adventures. Her wonderful collection of wax sculpture is a great present to all humanity. And the most important thing, is that her name would be in history forever.   


¹http://www.madame-tussauds.co.u (12.2007);  

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Sections of the museum

In fact, more than two million visitors each and every year are amazed and frightened at the realistic wax figures. There are several different displays for tourists to enjoy including the Chamber of Horrors, The Garden Party, the Spirit of London, and the like. Of course, tourists love taking pictures with their favorite wax celebrity. Some of the most popular are Princess Diane, Brad Pitt, Winston Churchill, and many others. There are many sections in museum and these are some fit.                                                                                                                  

The Garden Party zone is an exhibition dedicated to different notables from around the world. The visitor can mingle with life-like models of well-known celebrities and athletes, politicians, and movie stars are on display and look so real one almost believes they are¹.

The next is The Grand Hall is dedicated to the greatest of the greatest, royals, presidents, prime ministers and so on. Here the visitor can mingle with life-like models of well-known celebrities. There is also a ride called the Spirit of London. Tourists take little carts and are shown some highlights of 400 years of English history. One particular segment that most tourists love is an overview of Jack the Ripper. Spirit of London (Appendix №4) is a ride through different scenes of London history over the past 400 years in small replica London cabs. The ride starts with a model of Queen Elizabeth I sitting on her throne visit to Madame Tussauds wouldn’t be complete without meeting the Royal Family. Dating back over ten centuries, the Monarchy has played an important role in the UK, but rather than reading all about it in a dusty history book guest’ll meet history’s royalties face to face After a sitting at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth second  figure is created for a Golden Jubilee attraction at Madame Tussauds. The ropes surrounding the Royal Family are taken away forever as guests are invited to have a personal. Spirit of London better way to see the history of London than, from the seat of a world famous black cab. This cab journey takes visitor from the Tudor period through the highs and lows of London's amazing history, right up to the present day.

See William Shakespeare working on his latest masterpiece, experience the plague that hit the capital and learn how the great fire and Victorian periods impacted this famous city. There Culture Zone (Appendix №5) at Madame Tussauds contains persons like Einstein, Newton and Darwin.

200 Years, shows how much Madame Tussaud's has changed since it began touring in 1802. It contains sleeping beauty and a death mask of Robespierre as well as many others.

The next zone is The “Super Stars” which is has the biggest stars from television, news, cinemas and the 20th Century in general, including Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and Marlon Brando. Film stars from all eras are situated at this Premier Night. Oscar-winning actors from 1914 to the present day are all on display Top celebrities such as 007 Sean Conary, Sir Anthony Hopkins most famous for his role as Dr Hannibal Lecter, the beautiful Marilyn Monroe, hollywood actress Aishwarya Rai and more. “Blush” has received an exclusive red carpet make over and is boosting a streaming video backdrop with exclusive video footage and a funky new disco-lit dance floor . creating the perfect setting for the hottest celebrity venue in
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town!

Music Zone (Appendix №5) is one of the most famous section of museum which contains waxworks of Timberlake, Madonna, Aguilera, 50 cent and many others

In “Divas”, starring Beyonce, Britney and Kylie, guests are taught dance moves.                                                                                                             

Welcome onboard the Black Pearl at Madame Tussauds. This rip-roaring experience is nothing for landlubbers, so finds sea legs before stepping onboard Captain Jack’s pride and joy.

The Pirates of the Caribbean experience with amazing figures of Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Warhol’s Women Madame Tussaud is bringing Warhol’s women to life with a temporary interactive exhibition celebrating the influential artist and his famous muses, 20 years after his death. Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Hall, Jackie O, Lisa Minnelli and Judy Garland are all here at this zone, portrayed in a style inspired by Warhol’s Pop Art².                                                                                                            

In 1835, when the exhibition had settled down, it was easier to create many new sculptures. The exhibition began to grow with the expansion of the cabinet to include “The Separate Room”, known today as “The Chamber of Horrors”(Appendix №4). The Chamber of Horrors is the fives contains recreations of some of the most gruesome episodes from the history of crime and punishment. Highlights include the murderer Dr Crippen and a Victorian street from the time of “Jack the Ripper”. It has the actual guillotine blade used at the execution of Marie Antoinette. displays the most terrifying people and events of the last 200 years. There visitor can see Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, Vlad the Impaler (Dracula), Hitler, a scene of Marie Tussaud making death masks of the guillotine victims' severed heads, and John Reginald Holliday Christie taking the drop, and many other criminals. Located deep within the Chamber of Horrors is an inner-chamber where things take an even scarier turn. Here, a maximum-security prison has been taken over by the unhinged inmates.The Chamber of Horrors is unbelievably realistic; however the goal of the display is for amusement purposes only. Warlords and murderers are on display in some frightening ways, but many tourists enjoy this attraction. Especially the torture and execution scenes

that make one's heart race as if it were really happening.                                                                                                         

In the “Goal!” attraction guests step into the moment when David Beckham prepares to take the 93rd minute free kick that leads England into the World Cup - his figure is created with a beating heart³.   

The museum of madam Tussaud is also known as the museum, where the history is stiffed in wax. It is really so, because each section devote to each period of history of all world.                                                                                                                                                  

 


¹Куприянова В. Ф. Арнольд И. В. «Британия» Просвещение, Москва, 1997, стр. 68

²http://www.bbc.co.uk/(02.2008);

³ «Encyclopedia of Conpemprorary British culture» Routhledge London and New York, р.95 

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The

museum

today

The museum moved to its current location on Marylebone Road in 1884 (Appendix №2). In 1925 a fire destroyed many of the figures, but the moulds survived, allowing the historical waxworks to be remade.

The museum today is very modern and incorporates the art style of Madame Tussaud by displaying wax models of historical figures and all of Hollywood's top stars. The wax collection inherited by Madame Tussaud from Dr. Curitius is what began the museum in 1835¹.                                          

However, many updates have been added to both the delight and horror of many.There is several different displays for tourists to enjoy including the Chamber of Horrors, The Garden Party, the Spirit of London, and the like.

Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers.

“Visitors entering the Bazaar from Baker Street proceed to a saloon richly decorated with mirrored embellishments. Here sits an aged lady, with an accent which proclaims her Gallic origins. Were she motionless, you would take her for a piece of waxwork. This is Madame Tussaud, a lady who is in herself an Exhibition.”²           

Today Madame Tussaud's Waxworks in London is owned by the Tussaud's Group (Appendix №3). Other attractions in the UK include the London Planetarium, Warwick Castle, British Airways London Eye, Chessington World of Adventures, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, and the Alton Towers Hotel. Known as “Madame Tussauds” museums, they are owned by a leisure company called Merlin.

Entertainments, following the acquisition of The Tussauds Group in May 2007 London, incorporating the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York City, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, with additional locations scheduled to open in Hollywood and Washington, D.C. Today's wax figures at Tussauds Madame.

Tussauds settles into a permanent home in The Bazaar, Baker Street, London.

Madame Tussaud was a remarkable character in so many ways. She gave Madame Tussaud's a reputation which cannot be destroyed as long as the workers, who, guided by her spirit, do everything they can to protect the history of perfection which Madame Tussaud's stands for today.                                                                                                   

The London Planetarium is in the same building as Madame Tussaud's. Wax Museum and one ticket buy entrance into both attractions. The Planetarium has recently received a new name, The Auditorium, and provides a variety of short shows for tourists and locals a like to enjoy.                

However, show lengths have been shortened and many individuals speculate the Auditorium will be closed soon. There is no definite decision to close the Planetarium.

Today, museum of madam Tussaud is very popular among tourists and others. This museum is really interesting for its personal style- this museum contains history from all over the world.

¹Oakland John «British civilization» Routhledge London, 1999, p. 25

²Колодяжная Л. Н. «Познакомтесь: Великобритания» Айрис Пресс, Москва, 1998, cтр.71