Allegorical sculptures

At the corners of the central area, and at the corners of the outer area, there are two allegorical sculpture programs: four groups depicting Victorian industrial arts and sciences (agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing), and four more groups representing Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas at the four corners, each continent-group including several ethnographic figures and a large animal. (A camel for Africa, a buffalo for the Americas, an elephant for Asia and a bull for Europe).

CanopyThe mosaics for each side and beneath the canopy of the Memorial were designed by Clayton and Bell and manufactured by the firm of Salviati from Murano, Venice.

The memorial's canopy features several mosaics as external and internal decorative artworks. Each of the four external mosaics show a central allegorical figure of the four arts (poetry, painting, architecture and sculpture), supported by two historical figures either side. The historical figures are: King David and Homer (POESIS - poetry), Apelles and Raphael (painting), Solomon and Ictinus (architecture), and Phidias and Michelangelo (sculpture). Materials used in the mosaics include enamel, polished stone, agate, onyx, jasper, cornelian, crystal, marble, and granite.

Around the canopy, below its cornice, is a dedicatory legend split into four parts, one for each side. The legend reads: Queen Victoria And Her People • To The Memory Of Albert Prince Consort • As A Tribute Of Their Gratitude • For A Life Devoted To The Public Good.

The pillars and niches of the canopy feature eight statues representing the practical arts and sciences: Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, Geometry (on the four pillars) and Rhetoric, Medicine, Philosophy and Physiology (in the four niches).

Near the top of the canopy's tower are eight statues of the moral and Christian virtues, including the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. The virtues are: Faith, Hope, Charity and Humility, and Fortitude, Prudence, Justice and Temperance. Humility is considered to be annexed to the virtue of temperance. Above these, towards the top of tower, are gilded angels raising their arms heavenwards. At the very top of the tower is a gold cross.

History Marie Tussaud, born Anna Maria Grosholtz (1761-1850) was born in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling.

Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous people she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she modelled many prominent victims. In her memoirs she claims that she would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Her death masks were held up as revolutionary flags and paraded through the streets of Paris. Following the doctors death in 1794, she inherited his vast collection of wax models and spent the next 33 years travelling around Europe. Her marriage to Franfois Tussaud in 1795 lent a new name to the show - Madame Tussauds. In 1802, she went to London. As a result of the Franco-British war, she was unable to return to France, so she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection. For a time, it was displayed at the Lyceum Theatre. From 1831 she took a series of short leases on the "Baker Street Bazaar" (on the west side of Baker Street between Dorset Street and King Street) - which featured in the Druce Portland Case sequence of trials of 1898-1907. This became Tussaud's first permanent home in 1836.

By 1835 Marie had settled down in Baker Street, London, and opened a museum.

One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included victims of the French Revolution and newly created figures of murderers and other criminals. The name is often credited to a contributor to Punch in 1845, but Marie appears to have originated it herself, using it in advertising as early as 1843.

Other famous people were added to the exhibition, including Horatio Nelson, and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Marie Tussaud herself still exist. The gallery originally contained some 400 different figures, but fire damage in 1925, coupled with German bombs in 1941, has rendered most of these older models defunct. The casts themselves have survived (allowing the historical waxworks to be remade) - and these can be seen in the museum^!s history exhibit. The oldest figure on display is that of Madame du Barry. Other ancient faces from the time of Tussaud include Robespierre, George III and Benjamin Franklin. In 1842, she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. She died in her sleep on 15 April 1850.

By 1883 the restricted space and rising cost of the Baker Street site prompted her grandson (Joseph Randall) to commission the building at its current location on Marylebone Road. The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success. However, the building costs, falling so soon after buying out his cousin Louisa's half share in the business in 1881, meant the business was under-funded. A limited company was formed in 1888 to attract fresh capital but had to be dissolved after disagreements between the family shareholders, and in February 1889 Tussaud's was sold to a group of businessmen lead by Edwin Josiah Poyser. Edward White, an artist dismissed by the new owners to save money, allegedly sent a parcel bomb to John Theodore Tussaud in June 1889 in revenge.

Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction in London, incorporating (until recently) the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded and will expand with branches in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Berlin, Dubai, Hamburg, Hollywood, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Moscow, New York City, Shanghai, Vienna and Washington, D.C.. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers.

Known as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe), they are owned by a leisure company called Merlin Entertainments, following the acquisition of The Tussauds Group in May 2007. In 2010, Merlin Entertainments partnership with Tatweer will make a Madame Tussauds in Dubai.

In July 2008, Madame Tussauds Berlin branch became embroiled in controversy when a 41-year old German man brushed past two guards and decapitated a wax figure depicting Adolf Hitler. This was believed to be an act of protest against showing the ruthless dictator alongside sports heroes, movie stars, and other historical figures. However, the statue has since been repaired and the perpetrator has admitted he attacked the statue to win a bet. The original model of Hitler, unveiled in Madame Tussauds London in April 1933 was frequently vandalised and a replacement in 1936 had to be carefully guarded.

Blending History and Celebrity In the 20th century Madame Tussauds' role began to change. Thanks to the rapid growth of both popular tabloid press and public literacy, information about current events was easily acquired. The attraction gradually, therefore, became less a source of direct news, than a commentary on popular celebrity. It also came through some major upheavals, surviving near destruction by fire (1925), earthquake (1931) and World War II 'Blitz' bombing (1940.) Today, Madame Tussauds is bigger and better than ever, combining its diverse history with the relentless glamour, intrigue and infamy of 21st century celebrity.

Some of Madame Tussauds' original work and earliest relics are still on display in London, including the death masks she was forced to make during the French Revolution and the Guillotine that beheaded Marie Antoinette. Guests can also marvel at probably the earliest example of animatronics - Sleeping Beauty', a breathing likeness of Louis XVs sleeping mistress Madame du Barry sculpted in 1763, is the attraction's oldest figure on display.

And then there are the more contemporary, more interactive stars. From Brad Pitt, with his squeezable bum, to Kate Moss, alongside whom you can pose for the cover of a glossy fashion mag, the biggest names in entertainment, sport and politics are all dazzlingly represented; authentic down to the very last eye lash....

Finger On The Pulse Madame Tussauds continues regularly to add figures that reflect contemporary public opinion and celebrity popularity - Bollywood kings like Shah Rukh Khan; Hollywood sirens such as Nicole Kidman; pop idols Timberlake and Minogue. The attraction also continues to expand globally with established international branches in New York, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Amsterdam and Washington DC soon to be joined by new outlets in Berlin (July 2008) and Hollywood (2009) - all with the same rich mix of interaction, authenticity and local appeal.

A visit to Madame Tussauds is essential - where else can you savour two centuries of feme and notoriety, and tell the great and good exactly what you think of them? It'll be your most famous day out ever!

Early Years 1700 -1800 Madame Tussauds is born Marie Grosholtz and learns her skills from Dr Philippe Curtius in the years leading up to the French revolution

On Baker Street 1800-1900 Madame Tussauds takes her exhibition on tour and establishes a base at Baker Street in London. The attraction survives World War II and becomes an interactive experience in the 1990s.

New Millennium 2000 - present day New interactive areas of the attraction are launched, and the Planetarium is replaced by a new cinematic show created by Ardman's animations.

Early Years

1761: Madame Tussaud is born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg.

1777; Marie models the famous author and philosopher, Francois Voltaire.

1780: Marie becomes art tutor to King Louis XVI's sister and goes to live at the Royal Court in Versailles

1789: On the eve of The French Revolution, Marie returns to Paris

1793: Marie is imprisoned with her mother in the notorious Laforce Prison, Paris. On her release she is forced to prove her allegiance to the Revolution by making death masks of executed nobles and her former employers, the King and Queen.

1794: The French Revolution ends and Marie inherits Dr Philippe Curtius' wax exhibition.

1795: Marie marries Francois Tussaud

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 894