Страноведение

MADAME TUSSAUD'S

The history of Madame Tussaud's goes back over 200 years, during which time the exhibition has formed an integral part of the experience of countless millions of visitors to London. Madame Tussaud's has not always been in Britain's capital, however, and the story of its development is just as fascinating as a visit to the exhibition itself. 

Madame Tussaud  was born Marie Crosholtz in Strasbourg in 1761. Her father, a soldier in the Swiss army, died in battle shortly before her birth and Marie spent her early years with her mother who worked as housekeeper for Dr Philippe Curtius in Berne. Apart from his medical practice, Dr Curtius was a skilled modeller and, summoned to Paris under the patronage of the Prince de Conti, he soon called for Marie and her mother to join him; in 1770 he opened a wax museum.

Dr Curtius schooled the young Varie in anatomy as well as in taking plaster casts and tinting wax; she began to model famous figures of the time - among them Francois Voltaire and the American statesman Benjamin Franklin, both of whom are still on display. Her work became so popular with the French Royal family that she was brought to the Palais de Versailles to tutor Louis XVI's sister, Madame Elizabeth, in her artistic education. Marie continued as art tutor for nine years; however, the onset of the French Revolution, which made any associations with aristocracy dangerous, persuaded Dr Curtius to recall her to Paris. At one time during the period of revolution, Marie and her mother were imprisoned in the Bastille, sharing a cell with Josephine de Beauharnais, who later became the Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. They came terrifyingly close to death, having their hair shaved off in preparation for a meeting with 'Madame la Guillotine', before finally being released on condition that Marie modelled death masks of the Revolution's victims. 

In 1794