London Day Two: Harry Potter Tour -- Oxford

We made our way back toward London with a stop at Oxford, the university town. Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and is believed to have existed in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. Oxford University is essentially a federation: it comprises over forty self-governing colleges and halls, along with a central administration.

The next film location we visited was the 15th-century Divinity School.

Some say this room, the university's oldest teaching room, was used in four of the Harry Potter movies as the hospital wing,.....

....but I can only say for sure that it was used in the Sorcerer's Stone.

The room was also used in Goblet of Fire as the place where Professor McGonagall teaches Griffindor House how to dance in preparation for the....

....."well-mannered frivolity" of the Yule Ball.

The ceiling of the school is a masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic architecture. It has an elaborate system of fan vaults with 455 bosses. Each boss indicates a religious symbol, or a coast of arms, or many other things. The ceiling was altered in the films to remove any religious symbolism.

We next visited the cloister of New College used in Goblet of Fire where...

...Harry sees other Hogwarts students wearing "Potter Stinks" badges.

Our guide took a series of pictures of us walking through the cloister, at angles used in the film and I thought our acting was outstanding.

 

Simply scene-stealing

Harry crosses the quad to make his way to talk to...

Hufflepuff House's pride and joy, Cedric Diggory. After warning Cedric about the first task, Harry then...

....has a heated exchange with a jealous Ron Weasley at this archway.

At that point, Draco Malfoy jumps out of this tree to confront Harry and without warning is...

....transformed into a ferret by Mad-Eye Moody.

Sneak preview of a Harry Potter sequel, Harry Potter and the Tour of Wonders.

One last look at the cloister

Our last stop at Oxford was the college of Christ Church. The college is the setting for parts of Brideshead Revisited, as well as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was used in the filming of the controversial children's movie The Golden Compass.

Entering Christ Church College

This beautiful staircase was used in Sorcercer's Stone when...

...Professor McGonagall greets the new first years to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

A precocious first-year with her escort

The striking ceiling above the professor

Laying down the rules to the new pupils

The staircase is seen in Chamber of Secrets when...

....Harry and Ron try to sneak into Hogwarts after having flown the blue Ford Anglia to Hogwarts and also when....

....Harry enters Tom Riddles diary and sees the body of a student being taken away.

Dumbledore is then seen at the top of the staircase asking, "Is there something you wish to tell me, Tom?"

The door at the top of the staircase leads into....

...the Great Hall. The Hall was all sent for dinner, as it does serve as a dining hall.

As far as we could tell, no portraits were moving.

The head table

The room was full of tourists taking photos

Producers of the first Harry Potter film wanted to use this exact room as the Great Hall, but quickly came to the realization that four rows of tables would not fit. They ended up re-creating the room in their studios. Our guide swore, however, that you do see this exact room for just a few seconds as the first years file in to be sorted into their houses.

Sun dial on the side of Christ Church

Leaving Christ Church

Our guide pointed out this McDonald's as we left Oxford. It had to be built in Tudor style to comply with architectural codes.