Sorcery comes to the South Side

BIG BIRD Expect to see some well known characters, including Buckbeak, at the museum exhibit.

Even a Muggle can tell there’s magic in the air in Hyde Park.

“Harry Potter: the Exhibition,” a collection of more than 200 props, costumes and other artifacts from the Harry Potter films, makes its world premiere today at the Museum of Science & Industry—none too soon for the legions of eager fans of J.K. Rowling’s fictional adolescent wizard and the seven books and five movies about his adventures that have been released to date.

“From the moment you enter, this exhibit really takes you to another place,” says Anne Rashford, director of temporary exhibits at MSI. The 10,000-square-foot exhibit re-creates notable settings from the films, including both the Great Hall and Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Visitors can tour Hagrid’s hut and engage in a Quidditch game by tossing quaffles. “The attention to detail is remarkable; fans will appreciate how true the settings are to both the films and the books,” she says.

Highlights among the exhibit’s artifacts include Harry’s original wand and eyeglasses, his school uniform and the Nimbus 2000 broomstick from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Fans will also get to see the time-turner (a device similar to an hourglass on a necklace that’s capable of time travel) from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and robes worn by Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Objects from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince—set to open in movie theaters midway through the MSI run on July 17—are also included, and more may be added later, according to Rashford. Because the seventh and eighth Harry Potter films are concurrently in production now, artifacts may also be taken out and replaced by others if they’re needed for those movies, she noted.

MSI beat out an international roster of cultural institutions to score the premiere, according to Rashford, who cites the museum’s recent experience opening two other major exhibits—“Body Worlds” in 2005 and “Titanic: the New Exhibition” in 2002—as well as a central location easily reached from other Midwestern cities, as factors that may have helped. This is the only Midwest stop on the exhibit’s tour.

While the museum won’t release info about advance ticket sales, MSI president and CEO David Mosena said there has been “unparalleled interest” from the public in purchasing advance tickets (offered by timed entry). The museum has already extended the run of “Harry Potter” for nearly three weeks beyond its originally planned close date, to September 27, and is keeping the exhibit open beyond normal museum hours to 9pm to allow for more visitors.

To coincide with the show, MSI is offering a variety of Potter-themed family programs, including science demonstrations specifically for Muggles that will allow the non-wizards among us to do things such as dissect owl pellets in the museum’s science lab and eat mysteriously flavored jelly beans to learn how our taste buds work. All of the demos are offered during regular museum hours for the run of the exhibit and are included in general admission, according to Rashford.

The next stop on the exhibit’s tour hasn’t been announced, but die-hard fans may want to pay close attention, as Warner Brothers—the film studio behind the Harry Potter movies—has promised to update it with new pieces. “It’s definitely going to evolve and grow,” Rashford says.

“Harry Potter: the Exhibition” runs through September 27 at the Museum of Science and Industry. Tickets are $15–$26.

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