After several world cities, the Madame Tussauds exhibition with 51 lifelike Hungarian and foreign wax figures will open on May 25 in Budapest, at the Palazzo Dorottya, writes MTI.
At the domestic press premiere of the 250-year-old global tourism brand, Chris Scurrah, representative of the franchise rights owner Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd., recalled that Merlin is one of the world’s largest service providers, attracting 67 million visitors annually with attractions such as Legoland, the London Eye, Sea Life and the Madame Tussauds panopticon, he said.
As he pointed out, Madame Tussauds Budapest is the first individually developed and newly built franchise with local partners.
Paul Fox, the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Budapest, stated that they are not only celebrating the expansion of the world-famous exhibition but also Budapest’s rich cultural heritage and vibrant spirit.
The ambassador emphasized that a great British brand is setting foot in Hungary and that this is currently the only Madame Tussauds panopticon in Central Europe.
József Kreinbacher, the owner of Madame Tussauds Budapest, quoted Pablo Picasso and said: “Everything that can be imagined becomes reality, and everything that the human imagination can imagine is possible”.
Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, said that the Tussauds panopticon is a kind of gift to 150-year-old Budapest, whose wax figures give us the feeling of being close to people as if we have a common history with the celebrities seen here. As he said, in this exhibition you can find figures of the present, the past and the long past, which is a bit like the entire city itself.
According to the announcement of the organizers, the world’s 24th Madame Tussauds production will bring 51 lifelike figures and their associated installations to the public. In the attraction, visitors can meet 17 Hungarian-related celebrities, these were made exclusively for the Budapest production in the workshop of Madame Tussauds near London. The document recalls that during the planning phase, the audience was asked who they would be most curious about.
A number of iconic Hungarian buildings and monuments are displayed in the interior of the exhibition. Visitors can walk through the Buda Castle Tunnel, meet stars on the Danube River, be part of a helicopter film shoot at the Fisherman’s Bastion, and immerse themselves in the special world of the spas.
Hungarian and foreign personalities were also featured in the Madame Tussauds exhibition in Budapest: among others Harry Houdini, Katinka Hosszú, Katalin Karády, Lajos Kossuth, Ferenc Liszt, Béla Lugosi, King Mátyás, Mihály Munkácsy, János Neumann, Barbara Palvin, László Papp, Petőfi Sándor, Ferenc Puskás, Sissi, King Saint István, István Széchenyi and Jimmy Zambo, as well as Pope Francis, the late II. Queen Elizabeth, Beyonce, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Xi Jinping, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr., Lady Gaga, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, Steven Spielberg and Donald Trump are on display. Only in Budapest can the general public meet the lifelike statues of Bud Spencer, Chuck Norris and Peter Falk, the organizers pointed out.
Main picture: Mayor Gergely Karácsony (b2) takes a photo with American actress Scarlett Johansson (k), American director Steven Spielberg (b1) and the wax statue of American actor and martial artist Chuck Norris at the press launch of the Madame Tussauds exhibition in Budapest on May 23, 2023. After several world cities, the Madame Tussauds panopticon will open its doors to the public in Budapest on May 25 with 51 lifelike Hungarian and international wax figures. MTI/Noémi Bruzák
