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apollonaut. Built by People Who've Been

Journal / History

History

Marie Tussaud and the Art of Wax

From a first figure in 1777 to a museum on the Las Vegas Strip.

The patterned stone front and arcades of the Venetian’s copy of the Doge’s Palace

A modeller from Strasbourg

Marie Tussaud was born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg in 1761. She made her first wax figure, of the writer Voltaire, in 1777.

A home in London

Her exhibition settled in Baker Street, London, by 1835. In 1884 her grandson opened new galleries on Marylebone Road, where the London museum still stands.

A gondola on the outdoor canal below the Venetian’s copy of the Rialto Bridge

Read next

The Venetian’s red-brick Campanile and hotel towers seen from across the Strip on a sunny dayMuseum guide

What to see
at the museum

Gondolas on the turquoise outdoor canal in front of the Venetian’s copy of the Doge’s Palace and the Rialto BridgeHistory & heritage

The story
of the museum

The Apollonaut collection

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