Musée Grévin, Paris

The Musée Grévin is Paris's wax museum, at 10 Boulevard Montmartre in the 9th arrondissement, with around 250 figures of actors, singers, athletes, politicians and figures from French history set in themed rooms and historic 19th-century halls. Adult tickets cost about €28 at the door or from about €21 online, and it suits families, groups of friends and fans of celebrity photo opportunities.

Arthur Meyer's idea of 1881

Boulevard Montmartre was once the heart of the city's newspaper and theatre district. In 1881 Arthur Meyer, a journalist at Le Gaulois, wanted to show the public, in wax, the people who made the front pages. He took Madame Tussaud's in London as his model and brought in Alfred Grévin, a well-known caricaturist and costume designer, as artistic director. The museum took Grévin's name, opened on 5 June 1882 and was a success from the start. In 1981, a century later, it opened an annex at the Forum des Halles, which ran until 1996.

Celebrities, sports stars and French history in wax

Counts of the figures on show vary between sources, from about 200 to 450, and more than 2,000 have been made since 1882. They range from French and international celebrities to sports stars, artists and scenes from French history, and you can stand beside them for photographs. New figures are unveiled regularly to keep up with current celebrities.

The building keeps parts of its 19th-century setting: an Italian-style theatre whose decor dates from 1882, the Baroque Hall of Columns, and the Palais des Mirages, a mirrored hall with a light show.

The Palais des Mirages and Grévin abroad

The hall of mirrors and light effects was first built for the Exposition Universelle of 1900, in a pavilion designed by Eugène Hénard, and was later installed at the Grévin. The Grévin name has also travelled: Grévin Seoul opened in South Korea in 2015, and a Montreal branch ran from 2013 to 2021. The Forum des Halles annex in Paris closed in 1996.