After getting off the boat, we headed to the Royal London Wax Museum. My husband was not interested to go, but because it was just a stone’s throw away from the harbour and we had some time to kill before dinner time, we went anyway. It was not very big, so we figured, we would spend around 40 minutes inside.
Opened in 1961 with just 50 wax figures, this attraction established North America’s first exhibition of Tussaud wax figures from England and became the flagship Madame Tussaud establishment on this continent. It also contributed to Victoria’s image of a city with “a little bit of olde England.”
The first section, called Royalty Row, of course, featured wax figures of the current British Royal Family, as well as past rulers all the way back to King Henry VIII and his wives. This was my favourite section since I have always been fascinated by the Tudors in general, and how Henry VIII changed the course of England’s history because of his love of women. There was also a special feature about the life and times of Queen Victoria after whom this city was named.
The Great Leaders section featured wax figures of famous world leaders and influencers (real influencers, not just "influencers" on social media) such as Pope John Paul II, Mahatma Gandhi, Anthony and Cleopatra, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, William Shakespeare, and others, while the Invisible Border section featured the leaders of both Canada and the USA – the then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, John G. Diefenbaker, Abraham Lincoln, the then-President George W. Bush, former Presidents George Bush Sr., John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and their First Ladies.
At the Galaxy of Stars section, we saw the wax figures of Hollywood icons such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland (as Dorothy), John Wayne, Christopher Reeve (as Superman), Charlie Chaplin, and many more.
There was a Storybook Land, where wax figures of a few favourite fairy tale characters were on display – Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio and Geppetto, Alice in Wonderland and her Tea Party friends, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, among others. There was also a Disney section featuring Mr. Walt Disney himself and the beloved characters that he created.
In contrast, the Chamber of Horrors section featured wax figures demonstrating the methods of punishment and imprisonment throughout history – the guillotine, the Algerian hook, and the Rope, to name a few. As gory as the displays may sound, our dungeon walk was actually a lesson in history. Down the torture chamber were various torture instruments, severed heads, twisted bodies, and dioramas of executioners and prisoners in action with information sheets describing which crimes were punishable by what and how they were exactly executed.
The most notable display during our visit was the Last Supper scene. With an imposing long table and the wax figures of Jesus and his twelve apostles sharing a meal, it was a fitting end to our acquaintance party with some of history’s greatest people.
Though not as big as the other wax museums I had been to (around 250 wax figures all made in England), the displays were a good cross-section of human history and the figures were lifelike, with most having an uncanny resemblance to the real people they were representing. I say this because I had seen pretty bad representations in other wax museums. This one was small in number, but big in quality.
I thought my husband enjoyed the walk around. Reluctant at first, I guess he more than agreed with me that it was a very worthwhile 40-minute visit.
(Update: The Wax Museum closed in 2010, forced to shut down to make way for a seismic upgrade imposed by the Provincial Capital Commission. At the time of this writing, the building has become home to the Robert Bateman Centre.)
Photo Credits:
BidOnTravel.com, jgdlek (Trip Advisor), greatervancouverparks.com
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