It was an early form of what we now call ‘dark tourism’. In the same way we devour true crime books, podcasts about serial killers, and Tarantino movies, a visit to the waxworks was the closest way to have a one-on-one encounter with an infamous criminal. People in the Victorian period were much more likely to have first-hand and intimate experience of death, and therefore had a much more circumspect attitude to it than we do today. ‘ĭeath as a type of spectacle was of course nothing new. ‘In one corner poor Burke and Wills, the explorers, lie in the agonies of death … There lies the figure of a man with his head split open and bleeding and his murderer “with the fatal pickaxe yet in his hands”, stands calmly by, two Chinamen, the perpetrators of the deed, leering with a sardonic grin on their waxen faces over tile couch and the blood “as natural as can be in red sealing wax a-running all over the counterpane”. The manufacturer always keeps a lot of bodies on hand, and immediately upon a malefactor being hanged pops a head upon one of them, advertises it, and in rush the public.’ Ī young Marcus Clarke described his waxworks visit in 1865 with lurid detail: ‘The waxworks is a colonial industry the more murderers, the more it thrives. Their combined efforts swelled the ranks of the aptly named Chamber of Horrors in the waxworks, which captured the morbid curiosity of the public. Waxwork owner Mrs Sohier, an artist modeller, made copies from plaster casts that her husband, the phrenologist Philemon Sohier, had taken of the skulls of hanged criminals. Much of the appeal was purely salacious, but it was also presented as a form of moral instruction – examples of ‘what may happen to a boy in Victoria’. What tended to hold the most fascination was the Chamber of Horrors with its likenesses of notorious criminals and scenes of torture. The main front hall of the waxworks towards the end of the 19th century. īurke and Wills wax diorama at the waxworks from 1862 H2011.8 A life-size tableau of the explorers Burke and Wills (and King) was among one of the many figures on display, and appeared with astonishing speed, within weeks of news breaking about the ill-fated Victorian Exploration Expedition. New figures were constantly added to keep up with current events. Wax figures included members of royalty, Napoleon, the Pope (wearing robes made by the nuns at the Abbotsford Convent), Voltaire, and Shakespeare. Bourke Street, north side between Russell and Swanston Streets, (circa 1888) H81.111 The waxworks final location being between the Melbourne Coffee Palace and Parer’s Crystal Cafe. Thus we have the Bearded Lady looking benevolently upon Mr John Pascoe Fawkner, who, by the way, seems from his expression of countenance, by no means impressed with the compliment.’ ‘Distinctions of social rank or of moral qualities are, however, totally ignored. It displayed wax models of historical and current figures both international and local, sometimes to amusing effect: Like it’s famous London counterpart – Madame Tussaud’s wax museum (est 1835) – the Melbourne waxworks walked the line between ‘instructive entertainment’ and sensationalism. The Melbourne waxworks was a wildly popular institution for over half a century. In some countries they have their own wax museums with their local and international public figure in their collection, in this list, you can find 8 Best Wax Museums in the World.‘The advertisements state truly that “everybody goes to the Waxworks” and judging by the crowds that are constantly undergoing the process of ingress and egress … one can readily believe, not only that everybody goes, but that everybody goes more than once.’ You can find plenty of famous waxes figure from celebrities, athletes, and politicians, and other famous people in the world. In a wax museum, you can visit their immortals’ figures and take a selfie as you want. What makes this museum-type so popular? Well, when people become fans of famous superstars or famous people, they want to meet them in real, but this is sometimes difficult and sounds impossible. Wax Museums is clearly a touristic hot spot in some cities. The most famous name associated with wax museums is certainly Madame Tussauds. The origin of wax museums goes back to the early 18th century at least, and wax funeral effigies of royalty. A wax museum usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes.
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