The defense of the son of the sculptor of the Benidorm Wax Museum, to those who laugh at the figures: "My father did not make those"

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It was not El Prado but 17 years later there is still a Facebook group that calls for its immediate reopening.

The Wax Museum of

of Benidorm could hurt sensibilities because Madonna was a Bershka mannequin with a blonde wig, Julia Roberts became Julio Roberto and Rajoy looked like Steven Spielberg, as Daniel Méndez describes it on his Twitter account.

Within hours his post went viral.

It is not the first time, he also jumped a few years ago in

.

The artist of this Alicante wax enclave was José Ballester Peris, who died in September 2012. He can no longer give any explanation, except his son, Miguel Ballester García, who

, helping his father.

Seventeen years after its closure, Ballester assures that the meme is not based on reality: "The images of the figures that they say were there were not made by my father,

, I don't know where they came from."

In addition, the published photographs "are made with flash, which distorts the figures."

He also remembers his technique, light years away from current technology, "we did it based on photographs, literally, with images of the famous, and with a lot of clay."

He says it with sadness, because creations that never left his father's hands have been circulating on social networks and the media for years.

Only some - from the Facebook page his son indicates only three as real - were there.

"Yes,

The Benidorm Wax Museum was not the dream of a lunatic or a geek but the project of an artist who wanted to do in the Valencian Community

in the rest of Europe.

"He felt sorry that a place like Valencia, where there is always a lot of tourism, did not have a wax museum."

The sculptor was from the neighborhood of Carmen -center of the city of Túria- of all his life and he wanted it to be created there.

But from the Ministry of Tourism they advised him that the best place was Benidorm, due to its influx of people.

Ballester created a partnership with businessmen from the community and it all started.

2,500 meters of department stores were converted into the Wax Museum.

Not only was invested in a huge reform, but also in sets for the thematization of the scenes: characters from the cinema, politics, sports... And it was very well received.

Figure of John Lennon, from the Benidorm Wax Museum CEDED

In approximately two years the cost of the transformation of this space was paid.

People came in and gave their opinion.

Yes, Google reviews did not exist but they installed a book so that visitors could express their opinion when they left.

- And nobody laughed?

- Well, no, the majority transmitted a good experience.

The Museum closed the blind in 2006. "Disputes between the partners began. In addition, we continued to live in Valencia and the premises were in Alicante, at first we went every day, but later my father got older and we couldn't."

IMMORTALITY IN WAX

He wanted to become a prophet of his land.

Those who knew him remember him like this.

His fallero friend, José Vicente Marco Albert, paid tribute to him on his blog when he passed away, leaving no gap in his biography.

He says that José Ballester Peris began his training in the small

workshop that his father had in the Carmen neighborhood.

Inspector Clouseau, by José Ballester PerisCANCELED

"Surrounded by angels and saints carved in wood" he studied Fine Arts and went on to collaborate as a painter in the best workshops of fallas artists of the time: first with the Fontelles brothers;

later for Vicente Luna (...).

In 1971 Ballester entered the sculpture of wax figures and in a big way: he made figures for Madame Tussaud's company, and his work went through the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada... All from his workshop.

For this reason, his son claims that he be remembered "as what he is: an artist."

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