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"Veil, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking. Ve have just four floors, and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve have grounds larger even than these — though in vinter, ve have very little daylight, so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flying every day, over the lakes and the mountains —"
Viktor Krum describing Durmstrang to Hermione Granger[src]

Durmstrang Castle was a four-storey high castle,[3] located in Sweden or Norway,[1][2] that housed Durmstrang Institute.[3] The castle existed since at least 1294, around the year of the first Triwizard Tournament.

Description[]

Durmstrang Castle in the fog QC

Durmstrang Castle obscured by fog

Durmstrang was not as big as Hogwarts. The castle was only four storeys tall, and fires were only lit for magical purposes. It had more extensive grounds than Hogwarts, and it was surrounded by lakes and mountains. It got very cold in winter, as they got very little daylight.[3]

Sometime around the mid to late 1890s, Gellert Grindelwald carved the calling card of his obsession, the Deathly Hallows, onto one of the walls of the castle before his expulsion; the mark was apparently irremovable, as it remained even by 1994, when Viktor Krum was in his last year of studentship, when several students copied it onto their bags or books as a means to impress or intimidate others, much to the chagrin of those who lost family members to Grindelwald.[4]

Also in 1994, the castle was honoured as an ice statue at the Triwizard Tournament's Yule Ball.[5]

The castle featured its own Quidditch pitch.[6]

Security[]

It is known that Durmstrang was one of, if not, the most secretive of all the eleven wizarding schools. Like Hogwarts, the school was Unplottable; Durmstrang, like other schools, liked to conceal its whereabouts so the other schools could not steal their secrets, and was presumably protected by anti-intruder jinxes, Muggle-Repelling Charms, and Concealment Charms to hide its location from plain sight.

Due to the school policy of keeping the school hidden from everyone, it is also likely that it was impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within the castle and grounds, and visitors even had to agree to be subjected to a Memory Charm upon departure, so they would forget the school's exact location.

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Report on Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre reading
  2. 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 11 (Aboard the Hogwarts Express): Hermione Granger: "It must be far north because they have fur capes on the uniform list."
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 23 (The Yule Ball)
  4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 8 (The Wedding)
  5. Harry Potter Film Wizardry
  6. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
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