Harry Potter: The Exhibition is an international traveling exhibition, created by Global Experience Specialists, featuring hundreds of authentic props, costumes, artifacts and set dressings from the Harry Potter feature films.
Overview
Designed for guests of all ages, the 10,000-square-foot exhibition displays iconic items including Harry Potter's original wand and eyeglasses, the Marauder's Map, the Golden Snitch, Gryffindor school uniforms, and costumes worn at the Yule Ball. The majority of artifacts featured were flown in from the Harry Potter film sets in Leavesden Studios just outside London.
The Exhibition's creators, Global Experience Specialists (GES), a leading exhibition and events company, and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, spent three years selecting items to be displayed. Designed to immerse guests using as many sensory experiences as possible, The Exhibition enchants visitors using sight, touch, smell and sound. Attendees get the chance to test their Quidditch skills and toss a Quaffle ball, pull a Mandrake, sit inside Hagrid's Hut, or dissect owl pellets.
The end of the exhibit funnels visitors into Diagon Alley, a wizards' shopping destination in the movies and a gift shop for Muggles (those without magical powers).
The Exhibition made its world premiere on April 30, 2009, at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry â€" the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere. Since its opening, the exhibition has traveled across North America to Boston's Museum of Science, Toronto’s Ontario Science Centre, Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, and New York City's Discovery Times Square. It opened in Fall 2011 at its first international venueâ€"the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. It then stopped at ArtScience Museum in Singapore. The exhibition also stopped in Canada and Sweden and after that it was shown at the Odysseum Adventure Museum in [Cologne], Germany. Currently, the exhibition is shown la Cité du Cinéma in Saint Denis, France.
Eddie Newquist, one of the creators behind the Exhibition, explains that GES and Warner Bros.' goal was to display the most popular props from each of the films, so that fans would feel a sense of familiarity. "We wanted to pick fan favorites," said Newquist. "With each film, [the exhibition] has amassed new items. You'll see plenty of familiar characters."
Settings depicted
Throughout the Harry Potter films, most of Harry's adventures take place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Therefore, Harry Potter: The Exhibition uses themed environments inspired by the Hogwarts movie sets as backdrops for the artifacts and costumes on display including the Gryffindor™ common room, Hagrid’s hut and the Great Hall.
Gryffindor Common Room
Gryffindor is one of the four houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry Potter and his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, are all members of Gryffindor, the house known for bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry.
The Gryffindor common room can be found in one of Hogwarts castle’s towers â€" and its entrance is guarded by a painting of the Fat Lady. She will only allow entry upon being given the correct password, which changes frequently. You will have the opportunity to pass through the frame of the Fat Lady portrait and get a glimpse at costumes worn by famous Gryffindor students and the items that filled the common room and boys’ dormitory.
Hagrid's Hut
Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, Rubeus Hagrid lives with his dog Fang in a hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid’s enormous presence and booming voice belie his soft heart, and he becomes a loyal friend to Harry, Ron and Hermione â€" who often drop into Hagrid’s hut for a visit (despite his questionable cooking skills).
As Hagrid is half-giant, all of the furniture and many of the other items in his home are over-sized. The Exhibition gives visitors a chance to look inside Hagrid's hut, sit in his giant chair and see what’s cooking… or hatching.
The Great Hall
Lit by thousands of candles that float above the room, and with a ceiling bewitched to look like the sky outside, the Great Hall at Hogwarts serves as the main meeting area for students â€" and is where students share meals and receive owl post. The start-of-term feast, Sorting Ceremony and the end-of-term feast are held here, as are special events like the Yule Ball. The Exhibition allows visitors to see some of the smaller artifacts that were part of the most memorable Great Hall moments in the Harry Potter film series.
Tour dates and locations
As announced and in chronological order:
-  United States Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry - April 30, 2009 - September 27, 2009
-  United States Boston’s Museum of Science - October 25, 2009 - February 28, 2010
-  Canada Toronto’s Ontario Science Centre - April 9, 2010 - August 22, 2010
-  United States Seattle’s Pacific Science Center - October 23, 2010 - February 13, 2011
-  United States New York City’s Discovery Times Square - April 5, 2011 - September 5, 2011
- Â Australia Sydney's Powerhouse Museum - November 9, 2011 - April 9, 2012
- Â Singapore Singapore's ArtScience Museum - June 2, 2012 - September 30, 2012
-  United States New York City’s Discovery Times Square - November 3, 2012 - April 6, 2013
- Â Japan Tokyo's Roppongi Hills Mori Arts Center - June 22, 2013 - September 16, 2013
- Â Canada Edmonton's Telus World of Science November 23, 2013 - March 9, 2014
- Â Sweden Nya Parken May 19, 2014 - September 7, 2014
- Â Germany Cologne's Odysseum Adventure Museum - October 3, 2014 - March 1, 2015
-  France Paris' La Cité du Cinéma - April 4, 2015 - Present
Critical reception
Students and children
Kyleigh Ball, 7, visited the exhibition during its Seattle run and said her favorite part was the costume displays. "I thought it was great," she said. When asked if anything in the exhibit was too scary, Kyleigh added, "I definitely don't want my best friend to get freaked out by the statues. They were scary." She advised her friend to avoid the giant statue of the Angel of Death from the graveyard scene in the "Goblet of Fire."
Actors from the films
When actor Warwick Davis, who plays characters Professor Flitwick and Griphook in the films, visited the exhibition in New York City, he found it to be "a tribute to the artists and the craftspeople who put all of [the exhibition] together -- the costume makers, the designers." Davis described the costumes and artifacts as part of what helped him really inhabit his characterâ€"the details and artistry. "It transports you to the world that we're used to seeing at Hogwarts," said Davis.
Davis visited the exhibition along with a dozen cast members, including James and Oliver Phelps, who play George and Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter films. The group gathered in the exhibition space in early April 2011 to discuss the artistry of the items on display as well as the DVD release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows â€" Part 1.
References
External links
- Official website
- Harry Potter: The Exhibition at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum
- Official website (Japanese) - English version
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