Wax Museum Grévin closes suddenly

Wax Museum Grévin Praha has closed. The tourist attraction just off of Old Town Square made the announcement on its website and over social media. The move comes as a surprise since the museum had recently launched new advertising campaigns.

“The Grévin Praha Wax Museum announces its closure on 6 March 2018 after operating in the Czech entertainment industry since 2014. In its four years of activity, it has achieved excellent rankings on all websites (Tripadvisor, Slevomat, Facebook, etc.). Nevertheless, despite year-on-year increases in visitor numbers and improved financial results, this prolific project did not achieve a balanced budget due to its high operating costs,” the museum stated on its website.

“Despite the improving results of last year's fiscal year and the efforts of the Prague team, which brought about a significant increase in awareness of the brand, they were not able to prevent recurring losses. For this reason, it was decided to terminate the operations of the Grévin Museum,” the statement added.

Already purchased tickets can be returned to the museum, located at Celetná 15, Prague 1, every day between 10 am and 5 pm through the end of March.

The Facebook page for Grévin Praha Wax Museum was filled with messages from fans, mostly stating positive things about the museum. The museum responded that they wished there was better news.

Questions about what would happen to the 80 wax figures were not answered directly.

Some people commented about the suddenness of the closure, saying they had already made plans to visit. Others said the museum was nice but too expensive for the local market.

The museum had figures of current film stars, famous historical people and local celebrities. The museum opened May 1, 2014, with Czech celebrities such as Lucie Bílá, Aňa Geislerová and Helena Vondráčková coming to pose with their wax doubles. Other local celebrities depicted in wax included Emperor Charles IV, Franz Kafka, Václav Havel, Karel Gott and Miloš Forman.

The Prague branch of Musée Grévin was just the second location outside of Paris for the French owner, Compagnie des Alpes. It also opened a branch in 2013 in Montreal, Canada.

At the time of the opening, the operator was very optimistic. “The city of Prague, one of Europe’s prime tourist destinations was an obvious choice for the Group wishing to associate Franco-Czech know-how and expertise. The figures of 80 celebrities are on display in new specially created decors and settings in an area totaling 1,560 square meters,” the company said.

Investment in the three-story museum was 11.6 million euros, it was announced at the time it opened. The venue, which included a café, employed 30 people full time.

The museum faced competition from Wax Museum Prague, which was on the same street and had some of the same celebrity figures.