Madame Tussaud's

Description:

• If you like your celebrities with a waxen stare, don't miss the Amsterdam version of the famous London attraction. It has its own cast of Dutch characters (Rembrandt, Queen Beatrix, Mata Hari), among a parade of international favorites (Churchill, Kennedy, Gandhi). Exhibits bring you face to face with waxwork images of the powerful and famous and allow you to step into the times, events, and moments that made them so. The Dutch 17th-century display is magnificent. Cannons roar in the war of liberation against Spain, Rembrandt and Vermeer get busy with their paints, and you can stroll through the streets of Golden Age Amsterdam. More recent Dutch figures get a nod, too, like van Gogh with his sunflowers and Piet Mondrian and a red-yellow-and-blue canvas. Among the characters portrayed -- and often brought to life with memorabilia such as paintings or a smoking cigarette -- are world leaders, religious leaders, stars, artists, and writers: Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Michael Jackson, Madonna, David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, and many more.

  The Music Zone has a disco floor and video footage, music, and pictures illustrating music history since the 1950s. Then comes the Sport Gallery and its athletic heroes, and the TV Studio Backstage, where you get to "meet" TV personalities. In the Hall of Fame, movie stars shine as though it were premiere night. A video projected on a large screen illustrates how wax portraits are created at Tussaud's Studio in London. Finally, don't miss the great view of the Dam from the building's enormous "round window."

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2009