Madame Tussaud's Bangkok

CEBU, Philippines - Thailand is well established as one of the world’s leading tourism destinations and rightly so because of its various distinct attractions.

Its booming capital, Bangkok, is a diverse mix of ancient and modern where the magnificent splendor of the Grand Palace, exquisite Buddhist temples and shrines manage to co-exist with all the bustle, traffic and pollution one would expect from a major city.

Beyond its near limitless charm, Bangkok offers a new and creative attraction: the world-class Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum located on the 6th floor of Siam Discovery in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping district. On the gracious invitation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a select group of media and travel specialists recently explored this fascinating, must-visit tourist spot.

Allow me to bring you back in time to the attraction’s rich and fascinating history with roots dating back to Paris of 1770.

Marie Tussaud was born Anna Marie Groshitz in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland, a physician skilled in wax modeling. It was there that she learned to model wax likenesses.

At 17 years of age, she became the  tutor of King Louis XVI’s sister at the Palace of Versailles.

During the French Revolution, she modeled many prominent victims. The story goes that she would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of executed citizens from which she would make death masks. These were held up as revolutionary flags and paraded through the streets of Paris.

Following the doctor’s death in 1794, she inherited his vast collection of wax  models and spent the next 33 years traveling around Europe. At the age of 34, she met and married Francoise Tussaud and lent a new name to the show – Madame Tussaud’s.

By 1835 Marie settled down in Baker Street, London, and opened a museum with the Chamber of Horrors as one of the main attractions. This room included victims of the French Revolution and newly created figures of murderers and criminals.

The gallery originally contained 400 different figures but fire damage in 1925 and the German Bombs in 1941 rendered most of the older models out of use, although the casts themselves have survived.

On December 4, 2010, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum opened its doors to Bangkok residents.  It is the only branch in the world that allows visitors to get up close to the wax figures, and even touch and hug them.

There are 10 exhibit rooms and the first is the most elegant and culturally significant  as it showcases the wax figures of HRH Mahitala Thibed Adulyadei and HRH Princess Srinagarindra, the late parents of His Majesty,  King Bhumibol. The decorative elements in this room are meticulously planned down to the smallest details, from the royal costumes, color scheme, to floral graphic patterns and music, all of which received the royal endorsement from the Thai Royal family. This is the only room in which you are not allowed to touch the figures.

The second room is the History and Leaders Room, featuring wax figures of important personalities such as  the  revered monk Buddhadaspikku ,  the Dalai Lama, Thailand’s leading and somewhat eccentric forensic pathologist Dr. Portip Rojanasunan, Chairman Mao Zedong, Princess Diana,   Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and  Pablo Picasso and his cubist painting. Probably the most photographed is a section of the Oval Office of the White House with U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady  Michelle posing by the festooned curtains.

The Music Room displays wax figures of famous singers like Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti, the legendary Michael Jackson, American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur, Madonna, country lead singer Ad Carabao, songstress Beyonce, Thai pop singer and dancer Tata Young and many others.

The Sports Room features English footballer David Beckham, boxer Kaosai Galaxy, Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo,  Yao Ming, the professional basketball player who is the tallest in the NBA at 7 feet and 6 inches  and American golf superstar Tiger Woods. 

Other zones include the Arts and Science Room with scientist Albert Einstein leading the pack.  The Party, the TV and Film Rooms  display figures of famous actors and actresses such as Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Bratt Pitt, Elizabeth Taylor, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman,  Julia Roberts,  and Thai actor and presenter Ken Teeradech Wongpuapan and Thai actress Anne Thongprasom.

Aside from the wax works, Madame Tussaud Bangkok offers costumes and props for visitors to wear for pictures with the wax figures, as well as activities like football kicking and karaoke.

There you are, one more reason to visit Bangkok, and what keeps it so exciting is that its tourism products are constantly being reinvented and improved to guarantee a more memorable return visit.