Good News to HP Fans: Harry Potter Exhibition In Chicago

By ICMrgus
News - Popstar.com

The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, opened the world premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition on April 30, 2009.  In a 10,000-square-foot exhibit space, the exhibition offers fans a first-hand look inside the boy wizard's magical world and the opportunty to experience the amazing craftmanship of more than 200 authentic costumes and props from the Harry Potter films, displayed in intricate settings inspired by the actual film sets. The exhibition runs through September 7, 2009, and after that date begins its five-year world tour.

The exhibit is staged in nine different settings: Sorting Hat, Pre-Show, Gryffindor Common Room, Classrooms, Quidditch, Hagrid’s Hut, Forbidden Forest, Dark Forces, and Great Hall.  Before the artifacts traveled to Chicago for the world premiere of the exhibition, they were all housed at Leavesden Studios outside of London, where all of the films have been made.  It took four hundreds organizers working eight-hour days (3,200 hours) to set up the exhibition.  All of the original costumes are displayed out in the open, allowing guests to get the very best look at the exquisite detail of each piece.  Some of the more delicate and sensitive artifacts are displayed in cases. There are 40 characters and 19 creatures represented in the exhibition. Overhead of the exhibition hangs 5,720 pounds of rigging, lighting, speakers, cables, and special effects.

According to reports, before entering the exhibition, the visitors are greeted by a good-natured, well-spoken “wizard” at the entrance to the exhibit, who asks for volunteers to be ’sorted’ into one of the four houses of Hogwarts. The visitors are then greeted by eight long screens that flicker beautifully choreographed movie montages from the films. The first actual display are the Gryffindor uniforms for Hermione (Emma Watson), Ginny (Bonnie Wright), and Neville (Matthew Lewis). Somewhere in the vicinity of each’s respective uniform, was a glass case holding their personal possessions. Across the way are Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron’s (Rupert Grint) uniforms, their beds, casual clothing, and personal things.

There are small movie screens dispersed throughout the exhibit, playing scenes from the movies pertaining to the particular display you are looking at.

Moving further into the exhibit, one comes upon the Hogwarts professors' displays, and also a huge case of Quidditch-related things, such as Harry’s Nimbus 2000 broom, Malfoy’s Nimbus 2001 broom, and the unusual glass telescope Ron was looking through at the World Cup of Quidditch game in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Next to this is a mini-game of Quidditch, and a visitor can throw an actual Quaffle into one of the three rings

As one get deeper into the exhibit, the displays start to contain decidedly darker subject matter. Next to the interactive Hagrid’s Hut, one encounter the creatures who inhabit the Dark Forest, until the area reserved for the Death Eaters is reached. Among the artifacts are Tom Riddle's diary, and the wanted posters for escaped Azkaban prisoners, including Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) and Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter).

A lot of love, hard work, care, and passion went into putting this exhibition together. The fans of the franchise will remember how anyone who’s ever worked on a Harry Potter movie set says, “it’s magic.” And the magic is perfectly captured in the exhibit. It is something the visitor can feel, see, and touch.

This is a very good & timely idea!  A better way of giving tribute to Harry Potter fans worldwide.  Let's just hope that they will announce the world tour schedule early so that the fans can make special arrangements for this once in a lifetime big event.