Exclusive Harry Potter Exhibition in Brussels

Harry Potter, as we all know is a series of fantasy novels written by the famous J.K. Rowling. The story revolves around the life of  wizards and half-blooded ones and the non wizards (muggles) as well.

The main character of the story is Harry Potter the child who lived, singled out by Lord Voldemort and became his greatest rival.  Hermoine Granger, and Ron Weasley are his closest friends at Hogwarts School.

The World of Harry Potter

It has been the best-selling book series in the history, translated into 73 languages, the Harry Potter brand itself is estimated to worth as much as 25 billion dollars.

Has received more than 10 awards from different categories including Platinum Book Awards and many more.

About the Movie Series

The series sequence in order are:

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001),
• Chamber of Secrets (2002),
• Prisoner of Azkaban (2004),
• Goblet of Fire (2005),
• Order of the Phoenix (2007),
• Half-Blood Prince (2009) and
• Deathly Hallows (2010/2011.)

The movie series has already finished for now but Rowling is still unstoppable of creating new stories to continue the series which she have released the “Harry Potter and the Curse Child” (which I have read already) which is now in stage production.

The World Tour

Harry Potter world tour has been very popular after the film series ended, It was first released in London then later through out the world.

The Exhibition includes Harry Potter film sets,  amazing craftsmanship behind authentic costumes, props and creatures from the films. More than 3.5 million visitors from different stops of the tour in:

• Boston,
• Toronto,
• Seattle,
• New York,
• Sydney,
• Singapore,
• Tokyo,
• Paris and
• Shanghai

Finally in the  3^rd Annual Celebration of Harry Potter, they announced that the 15th stop will be in Brussels.

Being a Harry Potter Fan

I would say I am a fan of Harry Potter, I have watched all the film series over and over until my husband says stop (haha). honestly I haven’t read any of the book from the first one until the Deathly Hallow but the last one I did finally.

Back when I was in highschool in my hometown I cannot afford to buy books, it was difficult to be a shadow fan of Harry and his adventures. Graciously supporting his stand against Voldemort, I didn’t forget any information even the plot of the story of the movie.

Buying souvenirs and collectible items wasn’t my forte, my mom rented DVD’s back then. in my teenager days Hermoine was my role model, being incredibly stiff and brilliant I wanted to be like her.

As I grow old (well not that old) I watched the film series, I could say 20 times already all of it in french and in english. my favorite characters are Harry, Hermoine, Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, Dobby, Luna, Ginny and Neville. Favorite Hogwarts houses are Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

To tell you honestly I wanna keep this photos for my eyes only but I grasp about other fans, who would want to see this in real too. I feel so lucky and that It’s like my obligation to share these to others.

At the Venue

It was the second day of the exhibition in our city and it’s my time to discover the world of Harry Potter. I was so excited to see the behind the scenes props and costumes used and hopefully to perceive more information.

Queuing up for our turn to go inside the exhibition hall, we waited for about 15 minutes and at last the door is open for the magical place of Wizards.

The Sorting Hat

 

We entered and the presentator welcomed us. The first thing happened was they were calling some volunteers for the sorting hat to do his job.

I was kinda hesitant at first so I didn’t take part, I just took some photos instead (as usual).

        

The tour begins, first to welcomed us is the Hogwarts Express train, sites where the old restaurant from the first second film with the poster “Wanted Wizard” and the singing ghost from the painting inside the Hogwarts house.

Ginny Weasly’s Uniform

Did you know that Ginny’s dad Arthur Weasley supposed to die? Rowling thought of killing Arthur Weasley after he’s attacked by Nagini in Order of the Phoenix.

Collections including Opal Necklace

“This opulent necklace carries a powerful curse that has killed nineteen Muggles.”

Neville, Luna and Hermoine Uniform

Did you know that Hermione’s Patronus is an otter. Ron Weasley’s Patronus is a Jack Russell Terrier, which is known for chasing otters?

Hermoine’s Wand

  

Walking in the aisle was unreal, delightful and feeling overjoyed at the same time. It was the moment of a lifetime to see these collections in a closer look, I mean not just in T.V. but in life.

The clothes of the characters were extreme, there were pieces that I couldn’t recognize directly but as I’ve read the description I started to realize its valor.

Marauders Map

Harry Potter’s Room

Did you know that Daniel Radcliffe went through 160 pairs of Harry Potter’s round-framed glasses during the course of the films?

The Golden Egg

  

Remember the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire from the triwizard tournament, the first clue from the first task of dragon hunt. Harry took the advice of Cedric and “took a bath” with the egg.

Ronald Weasly’s Room

Did you know that Rupert Grint dressed up like his female drama teacher and rapped about Ron Weasley for his audition tape? his rap is actually hilarious.

“Hello, my name is Rupert Grint, I hope you don’t think I stink.”

-Rupert Grint

Professor Sybill Patricia Trelawney

 

Did you know that she was the one who made the prophecy about Voldemort and the one with the power to vanquish him (Voldemort took this to mean Harry Potter) during her job interview with Albus Dumbledore.

Professor Severus Snape

 

Highly known for his role as the professor of Potions, after his death Harry honoured him as a hero despite of their significant personal differences.

Harry named his second son Albus Severus Potter in honour of Snape and Dumbledore.

Dolores Umbridge

 

Did you know that she is the one I hated the most? why? because She’s a great Villain. Her strict attitude towards students of Hogwarts especially when he let Harry wrote “I must not tell lies” on his hand.

Baby Mandrakes

Did you know that not all effects from the film were computer generated? baby mandrakes are one of them.

Remember this creature from the right? the ones from Professor Gilderoy Lockhart class. On the other hand is the creepy clown statue from Professor Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody.

Harry was supposed to imagine things that he most feared and use the spell “ridiculous” to turn it to something hilarious. But in the end the clown statue turn into a Dementor.

Dementors, the deadly phantoms that guard Azkaban Prison, creepy creatures that feed on human emotion.

Quidditch Collection

Quidditch is the most popular game among wizards and witches, it is played on broomstick. The object of the game is to score more points than your opponents, and when the Snitch is catch the game ends.

Did you know that Rowling created Quidditch after a fight with her boyfriend?

Prisoner of the Azkaban

 

One of my favorite scene in the Prisoner of Azkaban when Hermoine and Harry used the  Time-turner to save Hagrid’s Buckbeak and Serius Black.

Time-turner will play a huge role in the latest book of “Harry Potter and the Curse Child”.

This makes me realize too that in life everything has a purpose. Buckbeak died but in the end they saved him and I was very pleased, and the scene with Harry and his God father was emotional.

Hagrid’s Place

Professor Rubeus Hagrid was half giant wizard, he is actually the cutest and the funniest character for me. He always slips some information that he should tell but Harry always gets it.

Did you know that there’s a fruit bat stuck in his famous shaggy beard? come from his mini fans.

The Winged Key

 

Its first appearance was in the philosopher’s stone, where Harry must catch this old key to open the locked door.

Little Harry with Professor Quirinus Quirrell

Who wouldn’t forget the epic fight between Voldemort who took Quirinus body to murder the little Harry?

Professor did search Voldemort to insure the people won’t laughed over him again and to attain recognition of learning for finding him. when he found him Voldemort took his body and use it to have an access to Hogwarts.

The Horcruxes

Tom Riddle created his first Horcrux at the age of sixteen after murdering his father. There were in total of seven Horcruxes that he successfully made.

1. Tom Riddle’s Diary destroyed by Harry with a Basilisk
2. Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring, Cut with Godric Gryffindor’s Sword by Dumbledore
3. Salazar Slytherin’s Locket, Stabbed with Godric Gryffindor’s Sword by Ron
4. Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup, Hermoine stabbed it with a Basilisk fang
5. Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem, destroyed by Vincent Crabbe with Fiendfyre
6. Nagini, Nevil Beheaded it with Godric Gryffindor’s Sword
7. Harry Potter, Voldemort used a killing curse.

The Triwizard Tournament and the Yulle Ball

Who wouldn’t forget the teenager stage of the trio where Ron begins to have crush on Hermoine, but he is also charmed by Fleur Delacour.

Hermoine with Victor Krum paired at the ball, and Harry having a crush on Cho Chang, Cedric’s partner at the ball.

One of the favourite scenes of mine is where Ron was jealously looking at Hermoine and Krum. The other one is the sad death of Cedric.

Unexpectedly when I enter this room, first thing caught my eyes was the gown of Hermoine. Strangely it was just a simple gown nothing really special but when I saw my photos now I can say there’s magic in there.

Did you know the Rowling acknowledge that Harry/Hermoine pair would have been better than Ron/Hermoine?

Fred and George Weasley’s World

The identical twin wizard co-founded and run the joke shop Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes

They are very known for they hilarious pranks and jokes, one of the best one was when they launched some fireworks during exams and let it chased Dolores.

The Tale of the Three Brothers

 

The three rare objects that were very helpful to Harry, played an essential part to out power Voldemort.

The Elder Wand, The Resurrection Stone and the Invisible Cloak.

Dumbledore, Dobby and the mythical sacred bird

In the last part of the tour is Dumbledore’s costume with the cute Dobby on his side. Dobby was a house elf who served the Malfoy Family and later freed by Harry though placing his own sock in Tom Riddles Diary.

The story of Dobby’s life inspired me a lot, when he became a free elf I was so happy for him. however when he rescued Harry and his friends from the Shell Cottage, during their escape using his magic to appear Bealtrix threw her silver knife and killed Dobby.

This was the scene that I cried the most, watching Dobby died.

Dumbledore in the other hand played a major role in the movie series, which I was disgusted when he died. At least he saved Harry for drinking the venomous water to get a horcrux.

Rowling said from an interview that the question she was scared the most is “What was Dumbledore’s wand made of?”. she thought of answering that, it’s made of the death tree.

The mythical sacred bird who ignites into flames when it reaches 500 or 1,000 years old only to emerge from the flames as a new and young phoenix was Rowling favourite beast of the series.

My Verdict

After the tour, It makes me recollect all the memories from my childhood up to the present, constantly following the story. I love the over all presentation, it was wizardly magical.

I’ll give it a 10/10 as Harry Potter fan It was a blast. I won’t ever forget the experience it will be with me forever.

I hope you did enjoy reading this post too, follow my next post coming out soon.

Sources of some information : Pottermore and Wikia

Harry Potter: The Exhibition

Palais 2, Brussels Expo

Opens June 30^th for a limited run until 2017