Paris wax museum reopens with Biden, minus Trump
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A gallery assistant retouching a waxwork of US President Joe Biden at the Grevin Wax Museum in Paris. The museum, which closed last October because of Covid-19, reopened yesterday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
PARIS • Closed since late October last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a Paris wax museum reopened yesterday with a new guest: United States President Joe Biden, posing with his arms crossed and flashing a toothy grin.
A little farther down its halls, former president Barack Obama's statue still stands, but that of Mr Donald Trump has been dismantled and put into storage.
The Grevin Wax Museum, opened in 1882, has featured US presidents since James Garfield's term in 1881, but when their term ends, their statues are taken down and the heads and bodies kept in separate crates in the cellars. "We have kept Obama, as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; the others are in storage," museum spokesman Veronique Berecz said.
The museum still has the heads of presidents including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, but those of most older presidents have been discarded. Some celebrities may disappear and then return, as is the case with Elvis Presley, whose new statue was displayed from yesterday.
Among the museum's 250 or so celebrities and historical figures, political leaders are relatively rare. French President Emmanuel Macron is present, as are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not. Former French president Francois Hollande is no longer on display, but his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy is, alongside his model and singer wife Carla Bruni.
REUTERS
