National Wax Museum Plus

The National Wax Museum Plus
An Músaem Céarach Náisiúnta Plus
	Location within Central Dublin
Established	June 1983
Location	22-25 Westmoreland Street,Dublin,Ireland
Type	wax museum
Owner	Patrick Dunning
Public transit access	Stephen's GreenLuasstop (Green Line); College Green bus stops
Nearest parking	Park Rite Fleet Street Car Park
Website	waxmuseumplus.ie

The National Wax Museum Plusis awaxworksinDublin,Ireland.First opened in 1983 as theNational Wax Museum,it was later relocated and renamed.

History[edit]

The National Wax Museum at it was then known was originally situated in Granby Row Dublin 1, close toParnell Squareon the north side of the city. It was opened in 1983 by theLord Mayor of Dublin.In the past, it was a former site to prayer rooms^{[clarification needed]}converted into acinemacalled Plaza Cinema (and prior to thatBethesda Chapel) and then into a waxworks, but this building was demolished to make way for a hotel.

The old Wax Museum in Granby Row had closed in 2005 and the site was to be redeveloped as the Maldron Hotel Parnell Square. In 2009 the museum, which at this time had now changed its name to Wax Museum Plus, found a new location in 4 Fosters Place, Temple Bar. On December 4, 2016The Irish Stock Exchangepurchased the Foster's Place location and The Wax Museum was relocated to the Lafayette Building in the centre of Dublin, more specifically 22–25 Westmoreland Street. The museum opened its doors on 25 April 2017, with new exhibitions and a new augmented reality app.

The museum was previously owned byDonie Cassidy,aSenatorand formerTD.It is now owned by Music Recording entrepreneur, Patrick Dunning, owner ofGrouse Lodge Studios.

Models[edit]

In the previous Wax Museum building, there was a mixture of wax figures and various other figures that were not modelled in wax (mainly because the wax materials were not suited to such. For example: the character ofThe Lord of the Rings,Gollumis made from fibre glass rather than wax). This can be to do with problems relating to the figure's weight and skin tones (wax is a heavy material and also useful for a basis of realistic human skin tones) or simply on the artist's style of work.

The front of the building bore a striking mythical Irish giant.^{[citation needed]}At the entrance were some figures includingGollum.The path through the museum brings visitors to a scene with figures such asCrocodile Dundee,E.T.,and Irish sporting and entertainment stars. It went upstairs through a winding staircase, surrounding a jack in the beanstalk scene, complete with giant. From there, visitors entered the Children's World (with the head of the outside Giant peaking in), and witness various storybook characters, and children's television show characters. Main attractions here were tunnels in which children could crawl through, theFlintstones,thePower Rangers,andBob the Builder.

Visitors would then move downstairs to witness a scene of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,then on to view many Irish figures of historical importance includingWolfe Tone,the1916 Rising,andMichael Collins.Following this were various Irish presidents includingÉamon de Valera,Mary McAleese,andTaoisigh.This led on towards figures of Irish theatre, writers, television presenters and G.A.A. stars. Moving from Irish figures to famous world leaders and figures such asPrincess Diana,World War IIleaders, modern American and Middle-Eastern and Northern Irish leaders of the Northern troubles. Then visitors could witness a re-enactment ofLeonardo da Vinci'sLast Supperpainting in three-dimensional wax form.

As visitors went downstairs again, they passedChristopher ReeveasSuperman,and see thePopeand Cardinals standing on top of the actualPopemobilefrom PopeJohn Paul II's visit to Ireland in 1979. Visitors then entered a room with theSimpsons familywhile a screen would play a film for people to sit down and enjoy or take a photo opportunity in a set of medievalstocks.Visitors were then given a choice to enter the Chamber of horrors (or bypass it and enter the next phase after it), with horror characters such asDracula,Frankenstein,theWerewolfandthe Mummy.Also displayed were figures likeHannibal Lecteras he rattled prison bars, theX-filesalien, andFreddy Krueger,amongst others.

Visitors then entered another tunnel opportunity for children again and then onto the "Hall of Megastars" with figures likeMichael Jackson,David Bowie,U2,Tina Turner,Ronan Keating,and Irish rock starPhil Lynotttaking the stage. The tour then ended with entertaining scenes dedicated toBatmanwithJack Nicholsonasthe Joker,Arnold SchwarzeneggerasMr. Freeze,andStar WarswithLiam NeesonasQui-Gon Jinnin battle withDarth Maulas well asYodaand youngAnakin Skywalker.

Wax figure damages[edit]

In June 2007, while the wax figures were in storage awaiting a new home, break-ins occurred in the warehouses.^[1]Many figures were damaged by vandals, including smashed heads. There were also a number of figures stolen includingBob the Builderas well as many army-style uniforms from scenes such as the 1916 Rising. This incident created even harder circumstances in which to try relocate the Wax Museum. The museum's head sculptor, P.J. Heraty was assigned the job of revamping and often, recreating the broken figures.

Gallery[edit]

Old Foster Place location
The National Wax Museum at it was then known was originally situated in Granby Row
James Joyce
Sean O'Casey
Bernard Shaw
Oscar Wilde
William Butler Yeats
Mary McAleese
Samuel Beckett
Brendan Behan
Patrick Kavanagh