The Musée Grévin is considered one of the top attractions in Paris for kids (after the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland Paris, of course), and when I visited there in 2023, I expected to find mostly cultural heroes connected to the world of children and teens (famous soccer players, characters from kids’ movies, and so on).
Indeed, I found all of these there, but I also found quite a few figures from “my own world,” starting with historical figures (kings of France, famous singers who died long ago, and more) and ending with Stéphane Bern (born 1953) himself (the man famous for his TV shows about historical sites in France, and in my opinion, a hero and a role model).
Beyond all that, the Musée Grévin has a fascinating history, and its location is perfect for anyone who wants to do a walking tour of Paris’s covered passages, so even if you don’t have kids and haven’t visited this museum yet, I highly recommend adding it to your trip itinerary.
In this article, you’ll learn how the museum came to be and its connection to its younger but more famous sibling, Madame Tussauds in London. In the second part of the article, I’ll tell you what awaits you inside the museum, and finally, at the end, you’ll find all the practical information for visiting (address, opening hours, tickets, and so on).
The Story of the Musée Grévin
Who was the first wax museum in the world? No, the Musée Grévin can’t claim that title, and neither can Madame Tussauds in London.
The first wax museum was created by a Swiss man named Jean-Christophe Curtius (1741-1794), in Bern, in 1760. Louis François, Prince de Conti (1717-1776), who belonged to the Bourbon-Conti branch of the French royal family, was very impressed by Jean-Christophe’s work and suggested he open a similar museum in Paris.
The museum opened in Paris in 1765, and in its honor he created a wax figure of Madame du Barry (1743-1793), the last mistress of Louis XV. This figure is considered, to this day, the oldest surviving wax figure in existence. In 1776 the museum moved to the Palais-Royal, and later it opened a museum where today’s Boulevard du Temple stands.
To help him with the work, Jean-Christophe taught his niece Marie Grosholtz (1761-1850) the art of making wax figures, and she got plenty of “training” during the French Revolution, when she made wax figures based on severed heads that had lost their lives on the guillotine.
In 1794, at the height of the Reign of Terror, Jean-Christophe died (of natural causes, surprisingly), and Marie inherited his business. In 1795 she married François Tussaud, closed her business in Paris, moved to London, and opened there the famous wax museum that bears her name.
Despite Madame Tussaud’s success in London, no similar museum arose in Paris after she left. Everything changed in 1882, when a press magnate of Jewish descent named Arthur Meyer (1844-1924) ran into a problem: most of his readers didn’t know what the subjects of the articles in his newspaper (Le Gaulois) actually looked like. The reason was that photography technology was still primitive, and there were no portable cameras that could take instant photos at the push of a button.
To solve this problem, he teamed up with caricaturist and sculptor Alfred Grévin (1827-1892) and suggested he create a museum featuring wax figures of all the celebrities written about in his newspaper. Alfred agreed, and the museum opened in 1882 at its current location. Almost from day one it was a great success, not only because of the exhibits but also because of the interior design, for which leading Belle Époque artists such as Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1928) and Jules Chéret (1836-1932) were responsible.
The museum was financed by Régis Gabriel-Thomas, who also financed the Eiffel Tower, and it was passed down through generations of his family. Naturally, over the years, more and more exhibits and attractions were added, so today’s museum is different, though not entirely, from the museum of the past. What can you find in the museum these days? We’ll cover that in the next section.
My Visit to the Musée Grévin
After we passed a poster of Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974) that looked like Francis I (r. 1515-1547), and the staff in charge of checking tickets and the coat check (which costs 2 euros per item), our visit to the museum began.
The visit starts in a hall of mirrors with a pleasant light and sound show, nothing more than that, during which the figures are “painted” in different colors each time and turn into different characters. After the show ends, you enter the first room of the museum, where you meet the famous wax figures.
Many of the rooms are decorated in the Art Nouveau style, and in each one you’ll find high-quality wax figures of all kinds of famous people from the worlds of entertainment, sports, politics, and cuisine.
What’s nice is that these figures don’t just stand in a row. Each one is placed somewhere different and engaged in a different activity (for example, Aznavour sat on a chair in a theater, while Pierre Hermé (born 1961) stood in the kitchen with his famous macaron, and more).
Everyone will find something they love here, whether it’s Hollywood stars like Harrison Ford (born 1942), famous singers, and so on. I personally connected especially to the wax figures of French film actors (they have the whole old guard there, including Louis de Funès (1914-1983), Fabrice Luchini (born 1951), and many more) and to the chanson singers.
But, quite naturally, the spot I liked best was the area dedicated to the history of France, from the days of the Gauls to today. It’s really a little journey through time among the more and less bloody moments of French history. For example, you’ll find there the assassination of Henri IV (r. 1589-1610) or the execution of Joan of Arc (c. 1412-1431).
The museum isn’t only about blood and fire, and you’ll also find figures of Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), Molière (1622-1673), and many more iconic figures from French history. Among all these figures, my favorite was the one of Camille Claudel (1864-1943) sculpting Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Take a look at the picture and tell me if you agree with me.
And so we continued moving from hall to hall and from celebrity to celebrity, until we came out into Passage Jouffroy. Personally, as a history buff, I loved both the Belle Époque design and the array of historical figures we saw. That’s why I believe that even if you’re not especially interested in seeing wax figures of Kylian Mbappé (born 1998) or Emmanuel Macron (b. 1977), you’ll find plenty to see and experience in this museum. So I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t visited yet (and also to those who visited a long time ago, because the museum doesn’t rest on its laurels and keeps changing all the time).
Practical Information
If you’ve decided to visit the Musée Grévin, here’s all the information you’ll need.
Tickets for the Musée Grévin
There are two types of tickets. The slightly more expensive one is the open ticket. You book it and arrive whenever you want.
On the other hand, if you’d like to save a bit of money, you can book a ticket for a specific time, but then you lose the flexibility.
Address
The entrance to the museum is at 10 Boulevard Montmartre, and you can get there via metro line 8 and 9 (if you’re coming from the east of Paris, get off at Grandes Boulevards, and if you’re coming from the west, get off at Richelieu-Drouot).
Opening Hours
The museum is open every day of the week, but Monday through Friday it’s open from 10:00 to 18:00, while on weekends it’s open from 09:30 to 19:00.
