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Madame Tussauds Amsterdam
That fancy building you're looking at on Dam Square used to sell clothes for 74 whole years before it became home to wax celebrities! This was the very FIRST Madame Tussauds to ever open outside of Britain back in 1970 - that's like your grandparents' time! The building itself is over 100 years old and was designed in a super special "Um 1800" style by a Dutch architect named A.J. Joling. As you walk inside, see if you can spot any clues that this used to be a fancy clothing store called Peek & Cloppenburg!
Did You Know?
- Madame Tussauds Amsterdam was the first wax museum outside the United Kingdom and the first in mainland Europe, opening in 1970 and marking a major milestone in the global expansion of the Madame Tussauds brand.
- The museum is housed in a historic national monument—originally built as the second Peek & Cloppenburg department store in the Netherlands (1914–1917), designed by Dutch architect A.J. Joling in the Um 1800 style, and later repurposed to showcase world-famous wax figures, blending Dutch architectural heritage with modern celebrity culture.
- Visitors can experience unique interactive attractions, such as walking through a dark passage themed as a moon landing, which is said to 'join life to death' and is playfully warned as 'forbidden to the most sensitive souls'—a fun and slightly mysterious feature that delights families and adds a touch of legend to the visit.