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Parisian magic in the heart of SeoulStory by rob Shelley Photos Courtesy of grevin Museum

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a s I swung around the table to take a tentative seat next to Rob-ert De Niro, I couldn’t help but feel nervous despite knowing

full well where I was. While my wife maneu-vered around to find the right angle for a pic-ture, I glanced upon Bobby’s face feeling like a starstruck fool. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he would soon turn his head and speak to me as a sort of practical joke, revealing that I was on some hidden-camera reality show.

That’s the surreal magic of the Grevin Museum, Korea’s only wax museum, just out-side Euljiro 1-ga station.

Founded in 1882 in Paris, the original Grevin Museum hosts 800,000 visitors per year, making it the 7th most-visited tourist attraction in Paris (itself the world’s most vis-ited city). Over the last few years, Grevin has chosen what it feels are culturally unique sites to expand their enchanting magic around the world. They started a few years ago in Mon-treal, then Prague, and—in July 2015—Seoul. Since then they’ve built another in Switzer-land, an hour’s drive outside Gene-va, with plans for a few more.

Grevin has over 2000 wax figures in total, with many in storage and new ones be-ing made each year. Their wax figures take at least six months

to craft, with 15 experts working studi-ously, and each figure costs about USD $70,000. The wax figures require modern 3D modelling and, for living icons, usually get assistance from the celebrities themselves who loan their bodies and faces for scans, molds, and measure-ments.

Costumes for each figure are often donated by the celeb-rities themselves to give them a startling authenticity, while historical figures wear clothes made by professional design-ers to match their time periods and iconic styles. The hair—which is the one thing you are not permitted to touch—can re-quire up to 500,000 individual implants. Figures also receive an average of 42 hours of make-up; not unlike real actors in a Tim Burton film, no doubt.

One room hosting historic Korean leaders like Yi Sun-sin and King Sejong really display how amazing the figures can be. Even though

there are no photographs of these figures from centuries past, you can’t help but be-lieve that this is exactly what they must have looked like. In particular, the older

leaders, with their skin imperfections and graying hair, seem ready to come

to life at any moment.Other figures have open

mouths were you can inspect their teeth and tongues, if you’re a weirdo like myself. The details are just that stunning.

All of the figures looked great, but some were truly su-pernatural. I had the odd sensa-tion of surreal disbelief the sec-

ond time around the figure of G-Dragon, who I swore was going to punk me any second. I could barely get up the nerve to make eye con-tact. I just couldn’t believe it wasn’t really him.

There’s plenty of familiar celebrities to take pictures beside. They range from movie stars like George Clooney and Tom Cruise, athletes like Michael Jordan and Lionel Mes-si, and music icons like Psy and Mick Jagger. There’s the former and current presidents of the USA, so whether you’re a Democrat or

Visitors might enjoy haVing

their likeness 3D moDelleD

anD DigitizeD, shooting hoops in front of michael

jorDan, haVing a Warhol-esque

painting maDe of themselVes, or

playing roulette at a table With

braD pitt...

20

Republican you can stand beside your Com-mander-in-Chief in an Air Force One-style room.

In fact, the Presidential Aircraft section was my favorite. The aircraft’s “windows” changed from dusk to dark, the floor seemed to sway slightly as if on a real aircraft, and— if you looked close enough— you’d notice that your pilot was Leonardo Dicaprio's character from Catch Me If You Can. Just behind your pilot you are invited to try landing the plane yourself.

The Grevin Museum in Seoul has seven interactive zones. You simply scan your ticket at these zones and get to engage in some fun games and activities. In the Presidential Air-craft you could try to virtually land the plane. Each ticket holder gets one chance, where you can control the acceleration and pitch of the plane. It’s very realistic and challenging, and my stomach

lurched when both me and my wife inevitably

crashed hard into the runway. I’d honestly pay money to play this landing simulator at an ar-cade.

More fun can be found in the Inventors zone, where Steve Jobs stood in front of a class-room blackboard with Albert Einstein looking on. Each visitor is invited to sit at a desk and compete in a multiple choice trivia quiz, with the results on full display for everyone.

Other visitors might enjoy having their likeness 3D modelled and digitized, shooting hoops in front of Michael Jordan, having a Warhol-esque painting made of themselves, or playing roulette at a table with Brad Pitt, among other things.

For K-drama fans, the Hallyu zone had a group of famous Korean actors posing around a film set. My wife gushed over Lee Min-ho and Hyun Bin. However, my biggest “gushing” moment was probably in the Recording Studio where I picked up a guitar and sat next to John Lennon for a pretend jam.

Although the museum was very quiet on the day we went, my wife and I still spent 90 minutes looking around. There were a lot of figures and the interactive activities were a blast. And the fun didn’t stop there. After we finished, the Grevin Museum emailed me a special link with pictures from my time at the interactive zones and a video with my silly 3D virtual likeness placed onstage besides Psy: a likeness which you have the option of getting 3D printed and sent to you.

The Grevin Museum also has special events for Halloween and Christmas for some family-friendly activities, so you can find an excuse to visit again and again.

Overall, it was a surreal, silly, and en-chanting experience for folks of all ages. A masterful wax museum, straight from Paris, beating in the heart of Seoul.

aDD Grevin Museum, 23 Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul, KoreahoUrS Mon-Thu, Sun 09:30-19:00, Fri-Sat 09:30-21:00tEL 02-777-4700WEBSItE www.grevin-seoul.com/en

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