"Sigmund Freud and Marilyn Monroe once met..." — sounds like the start of a historical anecdote. Meetings of famous people that didn't actually happen take place in Madame Tussauds wax museums. There are about 20 of them around the world, and one of them is in Vienna, next to the famous Ferris wheel in Prater Park.
The names of Austrian emperors will not ring hollow in the ears of children, and adults will be delighted to meet the wax replicas of their favourite musicians or sports stars.
Madame Tussauds Vienna is the youngest of the wax museums, having only opened in 2011. Despite this, it is always crowded and it can be difficult to tell the sculptures from the visitors. A reliable sign is that visitors tend to be more modestly dressed and able to move around. But don't expect the wax figures to look like dolls or mannequins. Not only do the wax artists achieve an incredible likeness to the original, they also reproduce the look of human skin and hair. Even the eyes of the wax figures appear lifelike.
Madame Tussauds Vienna is divided into several sections: history, politics, culture, sport, music and film. Pre-school and primary school children may not know all the names of the celebrities whose figures are displayed in the halls. You can probably tell your child at least a little bit about each famous person in the museum. And the museum's decorations can help children understand what each person was up to.
For example, the Empress Sisi is set against the backdrop of Schonbrunn Palace, Anne Frank is shown writing in her diary, the composers (Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert) are easily identified by their scores and musical instruments, and Gustav Klimt's profession can be deduced from the brushes he is holding and the easel behind his back. And who is the young woman gazing intently at someone's severed head? It is Madame Tussauds herself, hard at work on one of her sculptures.
Many of the celebrities commemorated in wax are our contemporaries. If you can't meet them in person, have your photo taken with a waxwork of Angela Merkel, the Dalai Lama, Angelina Jolie, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga or David Alab. You can have your photo taken with any figure, and it doesn't have to be a hug: there's a leather sofa for clients in Freud's office, an empty drum kit behind Freddie Mercury and George Clooney sitting alone at a café table.
This entertainment in Vienna will also appeal to those interested in the artistic side of the process. The Wax Museum lifts the veil of mystery and invites everyone into the workshop. You can learn the secrets of waxworks and see how sculptors and artists painstakingly create figures that are indistinguishable from real people. The workshop can also create a wax replica of your own hand. It sounds creepy, but you can compare it to the original and marvel at the accuracy of the work.
