About Us | Madame Tussauds Blackpool

WHO IS MADAME TUSSAUDS?

Millions and millions of people have flocked through the doors of Madame Tussauds since they first opened over 200 years ago and it remains just as popular as it ever was. There are many reasons for this enduring success, but at the heart of it, all is good old-fashioned curiosity.

THE MAKING OF A STAR

1761
1. Madame Tussaud is born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg
1777
1. Marie models the famous author and philosopher, Francois Voltaire
1780
1. Marie becomes art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister and goes to live at the Royal Court in Versailles
1789
1. On the eve of The French Revolution, Marie returns to Paris
1793
1. 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
1. The French Revolution ends and Marie inherits Dr Philippe Curtius’ wax exhibition
1795
1. Marie marries François Tussaud

BRINGING HISTORY TO BRITAIN

1802
1. Madame Tussaud takes her exhibition on tour to the British Isles, leaving behind her husband
1835
1. With her sons, Madame Tussaud establishes a base in London at ‘The Baker Street Bazaar.’
1846
1. Punch Magazine coins the name Chamber Of Horrors for Madame Tussaud’s ‘Separate Room’, where gruesome relics of the French Revolution are displayed
1850
1. Madame Tussaud dies

A HISTORIC ATTRACTION IS BORN

1884
1. Marie’s grandsons move the attraction to its current site on Marylebone Road
1925
1. The attraction is devastated by fire
1928
1. Restoration is completed with the addition of a cinema and restaurant
1940
1. Madame Tussauds is struck by a German World War II bomb destroying 352 head moulds, and the cinema

ATTRACTIONS AROUND THE WORLD

1972
1. The second European Madame Tussauds attraction opens in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1999
1. The first American Madame Tussauds opens in Las Vegas
2000
1. The second American Madame Tussauds attraction opens in New York, and the same year Madame Tussauds opens in Hong Kong
2006
1. Madame Tussauds opens in Shanghai
2007
1. The third American attraction opens in Washington DC
2008
1. The third European site becomes Berlin, where the attraction opens in ‘Unter den Linden’
2009
1. The fourth American site opens in Hollywood
2010
1. Madame Tussauds Bangkok opens in December - the third attraction in Asia
2011
1. Vienna (Austria) and Blackpool (UK) both open in April 2011 - the global count is now up to 12 attractions
2. Celebrating 250 Years!

THE NEXT 250 YEARS

2012
1. G'day! Madame Tussauds arrives Down Under in Sydney
2013
1. Madame Tussauds attractions open in Tokyo and Wuhan
2014
1. The fifth US attraction opens in San Francisco, California, and China’s third attraction opens in Beijing.
2015
1. Madame Tussauds lands in Orlando, Florida.