PHOTOS, VIDEOS: Madame Tussauds opens in Budapest on Thursday

A new Madame Tussauds will open in Budapest on May 25, featuring 51 Hungarian and international celebrities and historical wax figures.

At the media premiere at Palazzo Dorottya, Chris Scurrah of franchise owner Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd. noted that the Madame Tussauds brand was part of UK-based leisure park operator Merlin Entertainments Group. Madame Tussauds Budapest is the first such franchise to be fully uniquely developed and newly built with local partners, he said. Paul Fox, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Hungary, said the opening of Madame Tussauds Budapest was also a celebration of the Hungarian capital’s rich cultural heritage and vibrant spirit. He noted that the Budapest museum was the only Madame Tussauds in central Europe.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said Madame Tussauds was a “gift” to the capital marking its 150-year anniversary, adding that its figures of the present, past and distant past made it “a bit like this city itself”.