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Fictional British school of magic from the ''Harry Potter'' universe From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (/ˈhɒɡwɔːrts/) is a fictional boarding school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen. It is the primary setting for the first six novels in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, and also serves as a major setting in the Wizarding World media franchise.[2]
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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry | |
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![]() Model of Hogwarts at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter | |
Universe | Harry Potter |
First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) |
In-universe information | |
Type | |
Founded | c. 9th/10th century |
Location | Scotland |
Owner | Ministry of Magic |
Motto | Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus [lower-alpha 1] |
Hogwarts was founded sometime between the 9th century and 10th century by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. It is located in the Highlands of Scotland and its purpose is to both educate young witches and wizards and to keep them safe from Muggle persecution.[3] The school's precise location is kept secret from Muggles and from other wizarding schools.
Hogwarts is a coeducational, secondary boarding school that enrolls children from ages eleven to eighteen.[4] According to Rowling, any child in Britain who shows magical ability is automatically admitted to Hogwarts.[5][6] However, education at the school is not compulsory. Rowling has offered varying accounts of how many students are enrolled at Hogwarts at any given time.[7][8]
When a first-year student arrives at Hogwarts, the magical Sorting Hat is placed on their head. It examines their mind and assigns them to a House based on their abilities, personality, and preferences. Hogwarts has four Houses, each named after one of the founders of the school. Throughout the school year, the Houses compete for the House Cup, gaining and losing points based on actions such as performance in class and rule violations. The House with the highest end-of-year total wins and has its colours displayed in the Great Hall during the following school year. Each House also has its own Quidditch team that competes for the Quidditch Cup. Each House is under the authority of one of the Hogwarts staff members.
Each year, two fifth-year students from each House are selected as prefects. The position grants them certain privileges and the authority to give detentions for infractions. The leaders of the student body, the Head Boy and Head Girl, are chosen from among the seventh-year students. Hogwarts students in their third year or higher are allowed to visit the nearby wizarding village of Hogsmeade.
The novels mention twelve subjects which are taught at Hogwarts. Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration are required subjects for the first five years. At the start of their third year, students must choose at least two additional subjects. The five elective subjects are Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Muggle Studies. Students must also take flying lessons during their first year, and may take Apparition lessons during their sixth year.
Rowling has stated that Hogwarts is located in Scotland.[20] She has described the school as a "huge, rambling, quite scary-looking castle, with a jumble of towers and battlements." She said it "isn't a building that Muggles could build, because it is supported by magic.[5] The castle grounds have sloping lawns, vegetable patches, greenhouses, a Quidditch pitch and a large wooded area known as the Forbidden Forest. There is also a lake, which is home to merpeople, Grindylows, and a giant squid. Wizards cannot Apparate or Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds.[21] In Goblet of Fire, it is explained that Muggles cannot see Hogwarts because there are numerous enchantments on it.[22]
The Chamber of Secrets, which is deep under the school,[23] was home to an ancient Basilisk, intended to be used to purge the school of Muggle-born students. Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, built the Chamber before he left the school.
The entrance to the Chamber is hidden in the second-floor girls' lavatory (haunted by Moaning Myrtle). One of the sink taps has a snake scratched into its side; when a command in Parseltongue is spoken, it opens to reveal the mouth of a dark, slimy chute, wide enough to slide down, that gives onto a stone tunnel. The tunnel leads to a solid wall, carved with two entwined serpents with emeralds for eyes.[23] At a command in Parseltongue, the wall opens to expose a long, dim corridor, lined with monumental statues of snakes, including two rows of towering stone pillars with more carved serpents that brace the ceiling. A colossal statue of Salazar Slytherin, looking ancient and monkey-like, is at the centre. The Basilisk rested inside the statue and emerged from its mouth when the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle, summoned it.[24] In his second year at Hogwarts, Harry uses Parseltongue to open the chamber and destroys the diary containing the embodied memory of a 16-year-old Tom Riddle from his own days at Hogwarts and also slays the basilisk. It is later revealed that the diary was a Horcrux. In Deathly Hallows, Ron and Hermione enter the Chamber. Ron opens the door (despite not speaking Parseltongue) by imitating sounds he heard Harry use to open Slytherin's locket. They pull a basilisk fang from its skeleton to use to destroy the Horcrux made from Helga Hufflepuff's cup.
When Tom Riddle opened the Chamber, Myrtle was sulking in a stall after being teased by student Olive Hornby. She opened the door, intending to tell him to leave, but died immediately upon meeting the Basilisk's gaze and decided to become a ghost to get revenge on Hornby.[23] The bathroom remains operational, but is rarely used by students because of Myrtle's disagreeable presence and her habit of flooding it when she is distraught.
There are usually seven hidden passages in and out of Hogwarts, although additional passages are created at various points in the series. The passages include:
The Room of Requirement appears only when someone needs it. To access it, one must walk past its hidden entrance three times while concentrating on what is needed. The room will then appear, outfitted with whatever is required. Harry learns about the room from Dobby in Order of the Phoenix and realizes it is the perfect location for the meetings of Dumbledore's Army. In Half-Blood Prince, Draco Malfoy uses the room to hide and repair a Vanishing Cabinet, which allows him to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts.
In Deathly Hallows, the students who need a place to hide from the Carrows, two Death Eater professors, use the room. It is also revealed that the Room of Requirement's current version can change while still occupied, though should a completely different version be required (e.g. the Room of Hidden Things instead of DA Headquarters) the room must be empty. The Room can also answer to the desire of the wizard within the room, such as providing Harry with a whistle when he needed one during a Dumbledore's Army meeting, or creating a passage to the Hog's Head (as the room cannot produce food). Later, Ravenclaw's diadem is found to be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes and has been hidden in the Room of Hidden Things by Voldemort. Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the Room, with Harry knowing that he must look for a place to hide things, and find the tiara; but they are ambushed by Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. The diadem is finally destroyed when Crabbe fills this version of the Room with what Hermione believes to have been Fiendfyre; a destructive magical fire. It is not known if the room continues to function after the events of Deathly Hallows; Ron expresses concern that it may have been ruined in all of its forms by the cursed fire.
Due to the Room of Requirement not being in a fixed location, it is one of the select locations in Hogwarts that does not appear on the Marauder's Map.
The Hogwarts Express is a train that carries students from Platform 9¾ at King's Cross station in London to Hogsmeade Station, near Hogwarts. It is the primary means of transportation to the school, and students use it at the start of each school year. The train began operation in the 1850s. Before that, students reached Hogwarts on brooms or in enchanted carriages.[25]
A completely functioning full-scale replica of the Hogwarts Express was created for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter's expansion at Universal Orlando Resort connecting King's Cross Station at the Diagon Alley expansion in Universal Studios Florida to the Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure,[26] manufactured by Doppelmayr Garaventa Group in the form of a funicular railway people mover.[27] The Hogwarts Express King's Cross Station features a wall between Platforms 9 and 10, where guests can "walk through" to get to Platform 9¾, as in the first film.
Rowling has suggested that she may have inadvertently taken the name from the hogwort plant (Croton capitatus), which she had seen at Kew Gardens some time before writing the series,[28] although the names "The Hogwarts" and "Hoggwart" appear in the 1954 Nigel Molesworth book How to Be Topp by Geoffrey Willans.[29][30] The name "Hogwart" also appears in the 1986 Labyrinth fantasy film.[31]
Most exterior scenes were shot on location at Alnwick Castle, but views of the exterior of the entire school were created from shots of Durham Cathedral with a digital spire added to the towers. Durham Cathedral also served as a set for Hogwarts interiors.
A scale model was created for exterior shots of the entire school. Models of Alnwick Castle and Durham Cathedral were also built to create more integration between the model and on location shots. It took a team of 86 artists and crew members 74 years worth of man hours to complete the model.[32]
Hogwarts school was voted as the 36th-best Scottish educational establishment in a 2008 online ranking, outranking Edinburgh's Loretto School. According to a director of the Independent Schools Network Rankings, it was added to the schools listing "for fun" and was then voted on.[33]