The Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – ‘The Making of Harry Potter’ is getting an addition to its tour; the official set of Gringotts Wizarding Bank and visitors to the attraction will get the chance to explore its vaults.
Officially opening on Saturday the 6th of April, visitors to the site will be able to: walk through the banking hall of Gringotts; enter the Lestrange vault (filled with treasures from the films, let’s just hope they don’t multiply); pass through a gallery of goblins, alongside the costumes and prosthetics belonging to the Goblin bankers.
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Lined by towering marble pillars, the grand banking hall will be decorated with three magnificent crystal chandeliers and finished with real brass leaf. Inkwells, quills, ledgers and piles of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts will complete the goblin tellers’ desks as seen on screen. The Prop-making Department, led by Pierre Bohanna, created over 210,000 coins for the final two films alone.
Gringotts Wizarding Bank is famously run by goblins. Walking through the imposing marble columns, visitors will discover the costumes and prosthetics belonging to Bogrod, Griphook and many other goblin bankers. Each prosthetic mask took weeks to create, with every hair individually inserted and veins painstakingly painted by hand. It took four hours to transform actor Warwick Davis into Griphook in the films which included him wearing black contact lenses and dentures with extremely sharp teeth to complete the goblin look.
Once through the banking hall of Gringotts, visitors will enter the depths of the Lestrange Vault used to store the treasures of Bellatrix Lestrange including the Sword of Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup, one of Voldemort’s many Horcruxes. Here, visitors can try out a unique photo opportunity allowing them to step inside the Lestrange vault and surround themselves with treasure.
The addition of Gringotts makes ‘The Making of Harry Potter’ tour is the largest edition to be added to date and was designed and built by many of the original crew members who worked on the hugely successful magical film series including Oscar® and BAFTA-winning Production Designer Stuart Craig, Construction Manager Paul Hayes and Head Propmaker Pierre Bohanna.
General ticket prices will include entrance to the new addition and are on sale now.
