- Hi, I'm Meredith Cohen.
I'm an architectural historian specialized
in medieval architecture.
Today I'm breaking down the architectural details
of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.
Let's look at the exterior of Hogwarts.
There are a couple of elements in this castle
that bring us back to monastic architectural complexes.
And the first is the Great Hall,
which, in the earliest buildings from the Middle Ages,
they would be a refectory in a monastery.
And eventually, those were adopted by monarchies
to use them as throne rooms and great banqueting halls.
And then halls such as that were also adopted
into college and university architecture
as their refectories and dining halls.
In the center, we're looking
at the very tall keep
or donjon. [bright music]
But don't get that confused with the dungeon.
It has nothing to do with the prisoner's dungeon.
It really is a type of architecture
that was used for siege warfare.
And normally that siege warfare type of architecture
doesn't have any windows in it at all.
So this is kind of an unusual adaptation.
And it's got this conical roof with dormer windows in it,
which also is very, very unusual.
On the left, we're looking at a square block fortress type
of building with a corner tower and a battlement,
which is corbeled out on a corbel table,
that sort of round arches that you see there.
And then a conical roof with a dormer window.
To our left, we see another rectangular structure
that is leading to a small bridge.
And a last rectangular structure on our left
with many windows and a kind of stepped gable pattern.
So looking at the side of this Great Hall here,
we're looking at these buttresses capped by pinnacles,
which reminds me of the profile of Christ Church Hall
which is a college at Oxford University.
So we're looking at this window here,
which is corbeled out from the wall,
like a bay window and filled with tracery.
And although we would have a tracery window
in a building from this age,
it wouldn't be corbeled out as a bay window.
That's something that was developed later on
in the Renaissance and Tudor periods.
A couple of things at the top of this gable is
that you have this turret, a stair turret,
sticking up right out of the top of the gable.
So that's rather unusual.
And then we have a couple of chimneys around in this view.
So this central block here and the corner tower,
as well as the keep,
reflect an earlier phase in castle architecture.
A phase that's more typical of the 12th and 13th centuries.
On the right here is a building
that looks much more like church architecture
or monastic architecture.
It looks like a small chapel or a little hall.
And this is from a later architectural period
because of the detailing that we have on the buttresses
with these pinnacles.
And the detailing we see in these windows here
with the tracery patterns,
that would suggest a Late Gothic period of construction.
The Louvre in Paris is a really good example
of one of these castles
that shows multiple phases of evolution.
The origin of the Louvre,
which was a castle built around 1200
based on a square plan and with a large, tall keep.
And you can still see that underground at the Louvre today.
Then, that castle built around 1200
was added onto by Charles V in the 14th century.
And then, over time, that castle was replaced
and extended by many, many different wings and buildings.
And it remained the royal castle
all the way up to nearly the French Revolution,
at which time the Louvre was turned into a museum.
And so what we're seeing at Hogwarts
is a similar type of amalgamation
of different building types
that are created over different time periods.
From monastic to castle architecture
to university architecture,
religious architecture.
And this informs us about the different periods
over which Hogwarts was built,
telling us that this is a place
that has existed for a long, long time.
So let's check out now what's inside the Great Hall.
[bright orchestral music]
The first thing that jumps out at me here
are the four longitudinal tables
that represent the four different houses of Hogwarts.
They're enclosed by alternating paneled walls
with spaces for windows. [bright music]
We see a large chimney right here.
Also on the walls are these fantastic beasts,
carved out on corbels.
Leading our eyes up from these tables
and moving perpendicular is the high table,
which is elevated on a platform
and has chairs for the faculty to sit in.
And, at the center, there is a kind of throne.
That's where Dumbledore sat.
And behind him is this large window.
This reflects contemporary great hall
that we see still today in Oxford and Cambridge colleges.
It's based actually on a monastic refectory building type
that goes all the way back to the 12th century.
This Great Hall is fabled to have been inspired
by Christ Church Hall at Oxford University,
which is one of the most prestigious of the Oxford colleges.
And so, again, that inspiration
is lending an air of authority and power
and prestige to the setting of Hogwarts school
- Let the feast begin!
- [Meredith] So at the high table, I see a chair
that looks like the throne of the English kings.
It's a Gothic throne. [bright music]
You can see a gable and pinnacles to either side.
That's where Dumbledore sits.
So that's equating Dumbledore with a kind of royalty
- Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words.
- The high table, it's always elevated.
So faculty and their guests are elevated
and perpendicular to the students below.
Obviously there's an implicit hierarchy there,
suggesting that the faculty are to be respected a bit more.
At the back of the Great Hall,
it's a bay window.
But we don't really see its projection
into deep space there from the inside.
What we do see are these mullions,
stone vertical braces
that are holding the panels of windows in place.
So great halls like this
would often have one large fireplace for heat purposes.
It had nothing to do with the kitchens.
Again, fire's a dangerous thing.
So it needs to stay under control.
What is very unrealistic here is to see
these kind of oil lamps burning aglow, candles everywhere.
Especially if you think of
there was a wooden roof
or might have been a wooden roof.
And even for stone, fire is a terrible thing.
So that's emphasizing the magic here.
On the opposite side of this room,
there is a great pointed arch portal.
And it seems that that is taken directly
from Christ Church College at Oxford.
The Great Hall is designed to remind us
of the elite collegiate institutions
of Oxford and Cambridge.
And Hogwarts is designed to look like one of them.
Let's take a look at the Gryffindor common room.
[kids chattering]
- Gather around here.
Welcome to the Gryffindor common room.
- What's so noticeable about this room
are these beautifully colored red walls.
And on top of these reddish walls
are these Old Master paintings.
And that's typical
of these Oxford and Cambridge college common rooms.
And throughout the colleges,
they will have often portraits of old headmasters
and portraits of famous people at all levels.
Built a long time ago,
they retain features that are part of earlier architecture.
Like the large fireplace, which makes it very cozy.
Or they might have this beautifully arched entrance way.
And they're often filled with all kinds of knickknacks
and tokens of the past
that add to the coziness and charm of the room.
Common rooms typically
would have a fireplace to warm the room.
This one is a particularly large one.
So it suggests also that the room is large.
At the same time,
we have this chandelier
where I don't know what that origin of this is.
Almost looks like one of these Byzantine
heavenly Jerusalem round chandeliers.
Very unusual.
This is a modern manufactured chandelier.
Let's take a closer look now.
What jumps out at me here are these red walls,
which are actually one of two sets
of the most famous tapestries
that still exist in the world today.
This is the set from the Cluny Museum
of the Lady and the Unicorn.
They're from the 1500s approximately.
And they're extremely rare
and extremely valuable and precious.
The red tapestries are chosen
'cause they're red and beautiful.
And on this thousand-flower background
and looking very medieval and cozy.
So normally, tapestries are hung onto the walls
of an aristocratic household for insulation.
So not only are they a kind of representation of wealth,
but they're also have a very practical purpose,
which is they can decorate the household
by being rolled up and unrolled
and taken from one place to the next.
But when they're actually hung up on the walls
as insulation to keep the place warm,
'cause these stone rooms are really cold.
And so they look a little bit like wallpaper.
But it's funny how it's been translated here at Hogwarts
where it's actually been translated as wallpaper.
That it's actually cut out along the form
of the doorway there. [bright music]
They would definitely choose a tapestry
that has a unicorn because there are unicorns
in Harry Potter movies.
And they are magical creatures
- Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive
even if you are an inch from death.
But at a terrible price.
- As they were in the Middle Ages too.
They were magical creatures,
known for their magical properties.
Their horns were highly prized and valuable
and highly sought out and held in many treasuries.
It's very unlikely that with tapestries at all,
no less tapestries such as these ones,
any painting would ever be put on them.
They are the decoration themself.
You don't need to add another decoration on top of it.
And certainly you would never wanna poke a hole in it
to hang a painting over it.
So the elaborate decoration of this common room
is a testament to how Hogwarts
is a place of great prestige and history.
Let's take a look at another Hogwarts room
that served multiple purposes
- On Christmas Eve night,
we and our guests gather in the Great Hall
for a night of well-mannered frivolity.
- And here we are inside of a classroom
in which Professor McGonagall
is teaching the students how to dance.
And what a beautiful room this is,
with these huge windows made of stone tracery.
Very, very vertical.
That's typical of what we call the Perpendicular style.
To the back, we also have multiple arches
with this beautiful lace-like stone tracery.
Blind tracery on the wall.
A pointed arch behind her.
And what's really striking about this room
is the vaults that come down
and form these pendant vaults
that you can see right here and here.
It's like stone hanging from stone.
It's kind of a reversal of nature
for stone to be a pendant coming down from the roof.
This space is the Divinity School at Oxford,
which was built beginning in 1427.
And first purpose-built university classroom.
It was used for all different types of things.
It's a multipurpose room.
And that's how we see it being used here.
- Now, place your right hand on my waist.
- Where?
- It has these very, very large windows,
which are now full of clear glass
that let in a lot of bright white light.
And originally those windows
probably would've been with grisaille,
which is a kind of gray-scale stained glass window.
And probably made of silver stain,
which creates a kind of yellow color.
That was very popular in the later Middle Ages.
They were still stained glass,
but they were a little bit brighter
than the deeply saturated color stain glass
of earlier times.
It's built in what is known as the Perpendicular style,
which you can see is this sort
of more vertical decorative elements.
But the ceiling here
with these vaults that come down into these stone pendants
and it also had individual bosses
with coats of arms on them,
which suggest that those coats of arms
are people who donated to the production of this room.
That style there is more of the English Decorated style.
So this combination of Decorated
and Perpendicular style is very typical
of English Late Gothic architecture.
And so this is probably built in the late 15th century.
Let's take a look at Professor McGonagall's classroom.
- Can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face
if we were late?
[wind whooshing]
- So the first thing that jumps out at me here
are these really impressive interlocking round arches.
And as they interlock each round arch,
they form a kind of pointed arch.
And they're standing on tall, thin colonnettes,
which are capped by capitals.
These capitals are not sculpted.
But this kind of interlocking arch
is very, very typical of the Norman period of architecture
which was most fully developed in England
after the conquest of England
by William the Conqueror in 1066.
So this space is the Chapter House of Durham Cathedral.
An entire cathedral that was built after the Norman conquest
in England in the late 11th century.
This is not a classroom at all.
This is a small little room
to the side of the cathedral
that is being used as a classroom for Harry Potter films,
but is actually a wonderful Norman structure.
So a chapter house is a place
where the clergy would congregate every day
to read a rule from their monastic order.
So one thing that's really fascinating
about Norman architecture,
particularly as it gets adapted and adopted in England,
is this very linear quality to it.
And that's what we see in these interlocking arches.
This seems to be a kind of indigenous English fascination
with linear forms that may go all the way back
to their kind of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic roots.
This love of line and interlace
that's being expressed through
this Norman architecture here.
So it's really a kind of nice symbiosis
between Norman architecture,
which comes from Normandy in France.
And now it's being integrated
with this kind of interlocking linear style
that's so typical of England.
Let's take a look now at the hallways of Hogwarts.
- I don't wanna take potions.
There's quidditch trials coming up.
I need to practice. [curious music]
- So what jumps out at me here
is the very intricate tracery we see on the right side.
That's really beautiful. [bright music]
Pointed arches with lobes on the inside there,
all of stone tracery.
This is a vaulted hallway.
And on the left side, it's enclosed with windows.
One of the more unique aspects of this space
are these really beautiful vaults
that are made entirely of stone.
When you make a stone vault
like this out of two different arches,
there's a kind of uncomfortable meeting point
between the arch that goes across the space
and the arch that is perpendicular
to the side of that space.
And what the architects have done here
has been to cover it up
with this fan-like decorative structure
to cover up that uncomfortable meeting point
of these two perpendicular arches.
- Enjoying ourselves, are we?
- Well, I had a free period this morning, professor.
- [McGonagall] So I noticed.
- This was filmed at the cloister of Gloucester Cathedral,
which is very, very famous
for these really beautiful fan vaults.
One of the earliest of their kind,
if not the earliest.
Built in the 1430s.
A cloister is the central square
that is an essential feature of the monastic plan.
It acts as a kind of throughway around the monastery
that allows people to move from one building to the next,
without getting wet.
Let's take a look at the courtyard
- But no one's died in years.
Someone will move vanish occasionally.
- But they'll turn up in a month or two!
- Oh go on, Harry.
Quidditch is great.
- What jumps out at me are these very, very tall walls
that are pierced with windows and kind of arched spaces.
There's a great gateway on the side.
And then, of course, [upbeat music]
this open space where the students are walking
from one place to the next.
So this space is what is known as a bailey.
It is the inner courtyard of a castle
between a curtain wall
and then the main structure of the castle.
This is a space where horses would be kept.
It's where knights would be fixing their regalia
and their weapons and polishing things.
Very practical space too.
And on the left, we look at these sort of empty arcades here
that could have been used for storage.
As we look at the wall in the background,
it's hard to tell,
but they probably lead on to rooms behind it.
So this part is all castle.
I don't see any sort of mixed building types here.
This is all defensive fortification
and residential-type castle.
This was filmed at Alnwick Castle in Northern England,
which actually still belongs
to the Duke of Northumberland in its 12th iteration.
And his name is Hugh Percy.
And it still belongs in the Percy family,
which has owned this castle since the 14th century.
They are not living in the entire castle,
just a small part of it.
But this is part of the continuity
that exists in Old World Europe.
And you can tell by looking at this image
that the upper parts of the stone.
And parts of them are darker
and other parts are lighter.
So that's showing the sign of age.
Obviously the darker stones are the older stones.
Lighter ones, such as here and here and here and here,
may even be stone replacements
when the stone goes bad and starts to sort of dissolve.
So right here on the right,
this little slit here is an arrow loop.
See how narrow it is?
And it would've been opened out on the inside
just for the size of a man to sit within it
and point the bow and arrow outward for defense.
So this is actually a very defensive gateway.
It probably would've had layers of defense.
A portcullis.
A downward-dropping iron gate.
And there would've been murder holes inside too
that allow people to throw stones
at any enemies trying to get into the castle from there.
So this setting adds to the narrative
that Hogwarts is a really old institution
and has a lot of history behind it.
Those are the architectural details
I noticed about Hogwarts.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
[bright music]