The "World of Wax"
originally opened in 1961 in a street level location of the Crystal Garden
at the corner of Belleville and Douglas. Displaying some ninety figures,
this attraction establish North America's first exhibition of Josephine
Tussaud wax figures from England. In April of 1971, Canada's 13th Prime
Minister, the Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker, officiated at
the museum's grand re-opening.
In Year 2000, the Royal London Wax
Museum has an inventory of some 300 wax figures that have been sculpted
in England, the most recent of which is "The woman of the Century".
Decades of enhancements have gone well beyond the simple accumulation
of wax figures. The multi-faceted "World of Wax" experience
has been magnified not only through audio-visual technologies, but also
through complementing displays such as the Crown Jewels Theatre, the World
War I Field Surgical Hospital Kit, the thousand year old piece of cedar,
replica sword of Genghis Khan, and original opera chairs crafted in 1987
for the Prince and Princess of Wales.
North America's first Josephine
Tussaud Wax Museum remains the "flagship" establishment on the
continent, and is a major contributor to Victoria's image and reputation
as "A Little Bit of Olde England".
The story of the Northwest Passage began more than 500 years ago.
King Henry VII, father of King Henry VIII, had won the War of the
Roses and needed money. And what he needed was a faster way for
his ships to reach the Orient and hopefully profit more from the
trading with the merchants of the Orient.
There had been much talk about the North-West Passage that might
cut the voyage time in half - reaching the East by sailing West!
King Henry VII hired the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto to chart
this passage.
FROZEN
IN TIME OBJECT THEATRE
King Henry called him John Cabot,
and John sailed West - across the Atlantic; where he bumped into
an island which he called "new-found-land". He was certain
that he was near the coast of China, and sailed back to England
with the good news. He was rewarded with more money, men, and
ships.
But his voyage of 1498 turned out to be one of no return. Atlantic
storms forced one of the five ships back to England. The other four
were lost at sea.
Then all was quiet on the north-west front for about 300 years .
. . until Queen Victoria sent Captain John Franklin to find the
elusive Northwest Passage.
But the Frranklin expedition also vanished. To the Queen it suddenly
seemed "a terrible and endless Sea".
It wasn't until 1984 that we started learning about just what had
happened to Sir John Franklin and his men and their two ships.
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