In Renaissance Italy wax modelling was a respected art form. Today, there is something a little old-fashioned about wax museums. Still, even in these times of sophisticated entertainment, they remain popular all over the world.
Dublin’s National Wax Museum is certainly helped by its location. Since 2009, the Wax Museum has been based in an imposing historic building in the Temple Bar district, in the heart of the city.
educational
Wax museums are... educational. In Dublin the visit starts in a room with figures of the country’s famous writers – Ireland has produced four Nobel Prize winners. From the Writers Room, a squeaky door leads down into the vaults where gold reserves and arms were kept in the past. A ghostly voice accompanies visitors into the first of the rooms where the safes used to be. Here the story of Ireland is told in simple language. We meet St. Patrick, the Vikings, VIPs from the Tudor period such as Queen Elizabeth I, rebels against British occupation, and the peace process agents in Northern Ireland. Upstairs there is an extensive interactive exhibit on Irish contributions to science – from the inventor of the rechargeable battery to the first person to artificially split the atom.
fun
Wax museums are... fun. Here, the myths and legends of Ireland are presented in a lively, interactive way. In one large room visitors can walk around between big names in music and show business, such as U2. On the upper floor you can record a karaoke song. In the cafeteria a wax figure is eternally reading a newspaper.
bizarre
Wax museums are definitely entertaining, but can be... well, bizarre! The Horror Room greets visitors with a barking werewolf guarding a quiet vampire. You can take a selfie being attacked by Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street. And – probably not for everyone – a €2 coin gives you the opportunity to “electrocute” a death row inmate.
In some ways, wax museums seem to belong to another era, and Dublin’s is no exception.
INTERVIEW: old school
Susan Conneff works at the National Wax Museum in Dublin. We asked her why wax museums were still popular in the digital era:
Susan Conneff (Irish accent): I think it’s probably because it’s sort of visual, you’re standing, you’re looking, we all get sort of, I think, fed up with technology to a degree, sometimes we like to just go back and just look at things, it’s like, “Why do people like going to a museum to look at old works of art when they can actually maybe google it?” You’re getting close up, you’re also getting a different experience because with our works there’s audio involved, so you’re getting a sound effect, you’re getting very much atmosphere you just will not get from any TV screen. In my opinion, it’s a different way of portraying something to someone.
moving with the times
And she did admit that the Museum does have some modern technology:
Susan Conneff: We’re trying to please everybody because at the end of the day people still like to interact, so what we’ve done is in the Science Room it’s all about Irish inventors and what they invented and then people can go along and they can try the invention out, they can play the game, they can look at what has been invented and how, and there’s quite a lot of reading and interaction at the same time, so it’s up to yourself. If you want to just interact, that’s fine, and you don’t have to read any information; if you want to do the whole thing, even better.