New York Attractions: Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds, a Frenchwoman who made the art of creating waxwork figures so popular, can be credited with the establishment of London’s most popular museums and, in recent years, in New York City as well. The New York museum, established in 2000, has become one the city’s most sought after attractions where visitors can literally rub shoulders with some of history’s most famous and notorious personalities.

History

The original Madame Tussauds started off as a traveling exhibition when the feisty Frenchwoman, who learned her trade in the courts of King Louis XIV in the 1770’s, created wax replicas of executed aristocrats and other nobles following the French Revolution. The exhibition came to the United Kingdom in the early 19 th century where it found a permanent home in London in 1835.

A Madame Tussauds was created in Las Vegas at the Millennium and New York City, not a location to miss out on one of the world’s greatest attractions, created its own museum on Times Square in 2000. A Washington-based museum opened in 2007, while another is due to open in Hollywood in 2009.

Things to Do at Madame Tussauds New Yorkx

Madame Tussaud’s is made up a series of rooms, each devoted to a particular section of society. This is where visitors can get up close to wax figures that are so life like and realistic that it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the real personalities!

Examples of unique exhibition rooms include:

The VIP Room
This is where visitors can mingle with some of the hottest nightclub attendees in New York City! Join the guest list that includes Madonna, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and others to party until dawn.

Pop Culture
This room introduces visitors to some of the most influential personalities in global pop culture in an interesting and educational chronological order. Visitors can examine figures as diverse as Charlie Chapman and Elvis Presley and see how their mode of dress and accessories impacted the generation that they played for.

American Idol
This interactive exhibition allows visitors to ‘audition’ in front of life-sized wax figures of Simon Cowell and the other American Idol judges, listen to comments and even purchase a DVD of their own performance.

Opening Night Party
This is another room where visitors can mingle with some of the top names in Hollywood, including the Osbournes, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez. Madame Tussauds allows visitors to take photographs of themselves with these figures, creating a truly memorable holiday memento!

Behind the Scenes
Visitors can go behind the scenes to experience a unique exhibit that shows them just how the marvelous wax figures in the museum are created. All the secrets of the trade are revealed here!

Cinema 4D
The latest in interactive entertainment, the Cinema 4D at Madame Tussauds New York allows visitors to experience the brilliance of 3D movie watching with unique 4D sensory features such as wind and snow!

Madame Tussauds NYC

Madame Tussauds New York is a museum that is like no other, allowing visitors to mingle with the exhibits and removing the ‘museumy’ feeling from the entire experience. This is the closest that many people will ever get to sidle up to their favorite personality and have their picture taken with them. Madame Tussauds New York promises hours of entertainment for the entire family.

Location
Madame Tussauds is located at 234 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, New York City.

Click here to visit Madame Tussauds official website