It’s cramped, almost oppressive, in the cupboard under the stairs – there’s an electricity meter and a naked light bulb on the wall, and the oppressive slope above you. Anyone who crawls into this shed and lies down on the narrow mattress will get an impression of how the main character of the most successful book series of all time lived, or rather lived – until her eleventh birthday.
Because that’s when Harry Potter learns that, in addition to his dreary everyday life in the nasty Dursleys’ house, there is also a world of witches and wizards in which he is a big number since he survived an attack by the dark Lord Voldemort with just one Scar on his forehead.
That cupboard under the stairs is the starting point of the story of Joanne K. Rowling, whose seven books about the magical boy have sold more than half a billion copies worldwide; In addition, the associated films were all box office hits. And so it’s only logical that “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” also takes up this location – in the form of a true-to-original replica that visitors can place themselves in.
The idea behind it runs like a common thread through the entire show, in which you can “immerse yourself deeply in the world of Harry Potter,” as Tom Zaller puts it. He is the head of the company Imagine Exhibitions, which together with Warner Brothers designed the exhibition, which has been touring the world since 2022 and has already attracted more than two million people. Now she is making a guest appearance in Germany for the first time – starting this Thursday in the Small Olympic Hall.
“The exhibition is unique, also because it shows many original costumes and props from the Harry Potter films,” says Tom Zaller. The show is not content with simply presenting all the cloaks, magic wands and other relics in showcases. Rather, visitors should go on an interactive journey and slip into the role of a sorcerer’s apprentice. In return, they are given a digital bracelet at the entrance with which they can log in and complete tasks at more than a dozen stations on their tour. To do this, however, you need to register in advance, where you not only type in your name, but also select a Hogwarts house, your preferred wand and an animal as your patronus – a certain familiarity with the Potter world is essential here.
Once you have overcome this hurdle and watched two films to get in the mood, you go through the “portrait corridor” of Hogwarts Castle into a hall from which four rooms branch off. Each one is dedicated to one of the wizarding school houses, i.e. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Here you can marvel at countless props – from Ron Weasley’s hated wool sweater to Godric Gryffindor’s sword and even Nymphadora Tonks’ outfit – while the film music from Harry Potter blares from the speakers above you. There is also plenty of information about the houses and characters on text panels, which Potter nerds in particular will appreciate due to the wealth of detail. Here the show resembles a classic exhibition, but that changes in the following rooms.
From now on, the visitor himself is in demand as a Hogwarts student. After he has registered at the respective station with his bracelet, he has to brew a magic potion and choose the right ingredients for it, practice defense against the dark arts by swinging the magic wand, repot mandrakes in herbology class or… Fortune telling allows you to take a look into the future.
The individual tasks are more than simple and are often limited to following a specific pattern on a screen. Nevertheless, the course through the Hogwarts world is certainly entertaining – which is not least due to the lovingly designed rooms, the film sequences and the many props, creatures and costumes. Among other things, it goes through the Forbidden Forest, via a red telephone booth to the Ministry of Magic and into the half-giant Hagrid’s hut, where an oversized chair invites you to take a selfie.
Anyone visiting “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” with children will need a lot of patience, especially in two rooms. The first is about Quidditch, the most famous sport in the magical world, in which, to put it simply, you have to throw a ball called a quaffle through rings – and that’s exactly what visitors can try out at a kind of fair stall. The second room, where the youngest people are expected to stand in line, is about the final “Battle of Hogwarts”. It can be replayed here on an XXL screen using two magic wands from which the opponents fire sparking bolts of lightning at each other.
If you want to try out these and the other interactive stations at least once and also take a look at some of the props, you should plan at least two hours for your visit to the Small Olympic Hall. Real Potter fans will need even longer, after all, the exhibition is not only extremely detailed but also surprisingly extensive.
Of course, such fun comes at a price, namely 31 to 36 euros per ticket. It’s likely to be even more expensive, especially for many parents, because there’s a huge shop with Harry Potter merchandise lurking in front of the exit – from a Gryffindor mug for 20 euros to a bottle of Butterbeer for ten euros. At this point at the latest, mothers and fathers actually need magical powers to get back outside without expensive impulse purchases or screaming fits from their offspring.
The exhibition can be seen in the Small Olympic Hall until September 5th.