- At every step I discover absurd new faces—twisted fingers, disfigured heads, unnatural proportions, and the remains of mannequins instead of arms hanging on the battlefield for dignity.
- Mike Tyson is envied not only by Popes, but also by Adam Malice with his wife Agnieszka Radwanska or Lech Walaza with Harry Potter.
- – You can conduct a quiz and guess who it is – Tourists laugh when I show them what the figures look like, e.g. Robert De Niro and Marilyn Monroe
- Regardless of the verdict, there’s no shortage of people thirsting for entertainment in the center of Krakow.
- Additional materials can be found on the Onet home page
Brushy hair, 60s doll-like arms, scared eyes and inhuman poses. The Polonia Wax Museum in Krakow shows an example of wax figures, Ugliness is the best advertisement.
Elton John at Polonia Wax Museum in Krakow
– Comments from tourists around the world, from locals to visitors from Great Britain, Spain, Mexico, Germany, USA and Australia.
The museum’s publicity was brought about by a viral video posted online by a British tourist that has garnered nearly 15 million views.
– begins his film by offering photos of “terrifying characters”, including Prince William and Kate Middleton.
The museum’s popularity has spread not only to social media but also to traditional media. An article about the Polonia Wax Museum appeared on the website of one of the largest American newspapers in March this year. “Creepy and ugly” attraction, And the New York Post warns tourists against it.
In June 2022, the creators of the iconic “Top Gear” visited Krakow. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May filmed a new episode of “The Grand Tour” in Poland. Thanks to the clumsy wax figures of William and Kate, Donald Trump and Elvis Presley, this item is already a hit, delighting journalists with tears.
Elvis Presley (?) at the Krakow Wax Museum.
Joke or not – almost everyone agrees that there is no other such ridiculous wax museum in the world, and it won’t be around for long.
A wax museum in Krakow, or… a simple (and effective) business idea
I buy an online ticket for PLN 50 to see for myself if it’s as bad (or funny?) as internet users write. With current inflation, it’s unclear whether it will become more expensive in the near future, as the company raised prices last year, explaining the growing costs of maintaining the building:
– We read on the page.
Heat pours from the sky. As two Britons queue to get in, I decide to stick around in a waxen old townhouse in the city centre, hoping to be at ease. Or at least a physical one, because what lies ahead stays in my memory for a long time.
Tourists gather in front of the museum to take a souvenir photo with Lewandowski, Mr. Bean, or maybe… the famous Polonia Wax Museum.
Everyone walking down Florianska Street in Krakow pays attention not to the medieval gate or the Barbican, but to the clumsy figures at the entrance to the apartment, including – of course – Robert Lewandowski himself, or at least that’s the wax. Figure t-shirt.
Robert Lewandowski at the Wax Museum in Krakow
The exhibition is scattered across three floors in a very chaotic manner. You can see that someone tried to arrange the figures thematically, but the process was so inefficient that Albert Einstein sat next to Elton John, and The Beatles along with Picasso – the geniuses of the four cannot be denied.
Salvador Dali
Already at the beginning of the exhibition, we see Prince William and Kate Middleton, which made Krakow famous all over the world. Little did I know that the worst was yet to come.
Kate and William
In subsequent rooms like paper, theme music plays, or tracks overlap for several seconds with each (or no) movement. The cacophony is unbearable. “Habemus Papam”, the sound of war, can be heard from behind the wall, along with a few seconds of the Beatles’ hit (you’ll only recognize it after these few notes).
– You can conduct a quiz and guess who it is – Tourists laugh when I show them what the figures look like, e.g. Robert De Niro and Marilyn Monroe.
Robert De Niro at the Wax Museum in Krakow
Marilyn Monroe at Polonia Wax Museum
In addition to the dubious quality of the wax figures, you can find stuffed animals that complete the scenery in almost every room, fighters’ uniforms on mannequins and finally the carnival costume of a stormtrooper from Star Wars. From the comments of Internet users, I conclude that I am not the only one surprised by this practice.
Stormtrooper, although not made of wax, in the Museum of Wax Figures in Krakow
At every step, I discover new faces of absurdity—twisted fingers, disfigured heads, unnatural proportions, and the remains of mannequins that replace hands that have fallen on the battlefield for dignity.
— As if someone deliberately collects scraps from other museums and tries to convince himself that they will stay for a while, “they should be hammered” – I hear.
Piłsudski does not look like himself in the wax museum in Krakow
Without the Piłsudski moustache, but with a surprising sweat in his place, the three popes sit as if in a Turkish pulpit – a pole in which – otherwise it could not be – the best. Or just an overview? Because while talking about this museum, one cannot fail to mention how Mike Tyson is behind the worst made figures from the history of civilization. I believe it was borrowed from Madame Tussauds in London for some reason.
Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis
Wax Mike Tyson
Tyson is the envy not only of the Popes, but also of his wife Agnieszka Radwanska and Adam Malice, and finally Lek Walaza with Harry Potter and company. Besides, the latter J.K. Rowling was never recognized.
Harry Potter at the Wax Museum
A souvenir with a caricature of Rubius Hagrid
On the lower floor of the museum, in the basement with a red raised room, hell awaits. Lenin was imprisoned behind bars with Putin in chains on waxed hands. Hitler and Gorbachev are in the abyss.
I try to contact the manager of the Polonia Wax Museum to find out if the business plan is really just clumsy figures entertaining hundreds of tourists. Unfortunately, until the material was published, I did not receive a reply. The cashier who works at the museum admits, however, that in recent months, despite growing popularity in the media, The museum did not experience a dramatic increase in visitor numbers.
What else do museum visitors complain about? Some exhibits, although found in pamphlets or on the website, are not available in Krakow. The Polonia Wax Museum has its branch in Jakobane, where we can see figures of comic book heroes like Spiderman, especially when a tourist from Great Britain noticed their absence.
“I will go to laugh,” admits the resident of Warsaw.
“I wouldn’t pay a penny for it.” “I don’t want to support such fuss,” says a resident of Krakow.
Regardless of the verdict, there is no shortage of such entertainment thirst in the center of Krakow.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sylvester Stallone
Adam Malice
Shrek and Donkey
Music group
Michael Jackson
Albert Einstein
David Quetta
Jolanda and Alexander Kwasniewski
Thanuda and Lech Walesa
Hillary Clinton
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
. “Hardcore internet junkie. Award-winning bacon ninja. Social media trailblazer. Subtly charming pop culture advocate. Falls down a lot.”