Three of the most popular places to visit in London are the Tower, the Zoo and Madame Tussaud's waxworks museum. This last-named building has the most famous exhibition of waxwork models of famous and notorious people in the world. It was created by a Swiss-born artist, Marie Tussaud. '
Marie Grosholtz was sent by her father to study wax modeling under her uncle in Paris. Over many years she modeled many famous people, particularly the leading figures in the French Revolution of 1789. As freshly severed heads fell from the guillotine, Marie started working on them immediately. Making these death masks kept her very busy.
In 1793 her uncle died' and she inherited his museum and its collection. Seven years later she moved to London and in 1802 she put on her first exhibition, in the Strand. It was called Madame Tussaud's because that was the name of the Frenchman she had married. The exhibition was very successful, and she took care to keep the figures up to date. In 1833 it moved to Baker Street and remained there till well past her death.
Her sons moved the exhibition to Marylebone Road in 1884, where it still stands today. Much of it was damaged by fire in 1925 but fortunately the molds from which the heads were made were rescued and by 1927 the building had been repaired and the figures replaced.