Madame Tussauds San Francisco

On your left, you’ll see Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in San Francisco. You’re certainly familiar with these famous museums, the first of which was created by French sculptor Marie Tussaud in London in 1835. There are museums all over the world, in Berlin, Shanghai, Istanbul, Sydney, Prague, Tokyo, Washington, Vienna and Singapore. At the San Francisco waxworks, you can marvel at the precision of the wax statues and meet some of the world’s biggest stars! But have you ever wondered who Madame Tussaud was and why she specialized in the art of replicas? Well, for your personal culture, you should know that her art originates from the French Revolution! Well, partly. As a matter of fact, little Marie’s father – an executioner, by the way – died shortly after her birth. As a result, her mother found herself working as a maid for Philippe Curtius, a doctor turned sculptor, who took the little girl under his wing and taught her everything he knew. By the time the French Revolution came along, Marie was in close contact with the aristocracy, with whom she frequently associated. She was therefore condemned to the guillotine. But because she was so talented, they decided to pardon her and put her talent to good use, having her make death masks of decapitated personalities. How crazy! Upon his death, Curtius left her his collection and Marie then moved to England. In 1835, she opened the Back Street Bazaar in London, whose star attraction was the Chamber of Horrors, featuring masks of the murderers of the French Revolution and their victims. The consequences are easy to imagine. The popularity of the museum skyrocketed and it became a major attraction in London, before expanding all over the world, as far as San Francisco.