The Great Hall

> It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting... The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight... Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars... It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heaven.
>
> Description of the Great Hall, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The **Great Hall** in the Hogwarts Castle was the main gathering area in the school, which was located off the Entrance Hall. It was a large hall where students and teachers dined and congregated. Three meals a day were hosted in this hall.

### Location

Ground floor, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland, Great Britain

The Great Hall was the main place where students received their meals and daily owl post. They also held certain special events, such as the Sorting Ceremony, and the Hallowe'en Feast.
The large hall had enough space to hold every student, as well as the main staff and guests. The Hall had tall walls that reached up to the ceiling, which was covered with floating candles and enchanted to look like the sky above.
At the front of the hall was the staff table, also known as the High Table, which was designed to house the entire Hogwarts staff. In the centre of the table was a throne chair where the present Headteacher sat. At the left of the table was a door which led to a chamber with portraits.
The Great Hall had also held many important events, such as the defeat of Lord Voldemort at the hands of Harry Potter, ending the Battle of Hogwarts and the climatic end of the Second Wizarding War.

## Description

 File:Great hall.jpg  The Great Hall was a large hall with four long tables where students of each House sat during the day and at mealtimes. The staff table was at the front, where the entire Hogwarts staff sat. There was a throne-like chair in the centre of the table where the current Headmaster or Headmistress sat. The ceiling of the Great Hall was covered with candles and it was enchanted to look like the sky above. To the left of the table was a door which led to ***a chamber with portraits***.
From the staff table, the House tables were as follows (from left to right): Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin.
During the Hallowe'en feast, the hall was festooned with sweets-filled pumpkins, bats, orange streamers, water snakes and many other Hallowe'en-related decorations. At Christmas, before and during the holidays, twelve large Christmas trees were placed around the room.

## Events

### Start-of-Term Feast

The Start-of-Term Feast was a traditional part of the school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, held in the Great Hall. The gathering was held on the evening of 1 September, following the arrival of the students from the Hogwarts Express. The Sorting ceremony was held at the beginning, before the Headteacher made their announcement and commenced the meal.

### Hallowe'en feast

 File:Hallowe'en Feast.jpg  The Hallowe'en feast at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry occured on 31 October every year. The Great Hall was decorated with Hallowe'en decor, such as sweet-filled pumpkins, bats, orange streamers and water snakes. At the end, there was entertainment, such as the ghosts of Hogwarts popping up out of the wall and performing formation gliding.
It was a highly anticipated feast which most Hogwarts students looked forward to every year.

### Christmas feast

 File:Christmas feast at Hogwarts.jpg
The Christmas Feast was held on Christmas Day. It was attended by the teachers and any student who had chosen to remain at Hogwarts over the Christmas Holidays. The feast was prepared by the house-elves in the ***kitchens***, and consisted of a hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roasted and boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce.
For dessert, flaming Christmas puddings were served, with silver sickles hidden within the pudding. There were also surprise firecrackers, which, when popped, gave forth a gift.

### Duelling Club

 File:B2C11M2 Great Hall Duelling Club.png
On 17 December 1992, Professor Lockhart created the duelling club when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. He was given permission by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore to teach students how to duel, in an attempt to help them learn to protect themselves. Lockhart was joined by Professor Snape, who worked as his assistant. In 1996, the Gryffindor Duelling Club held their gatherings in the Great Hall.

### End-of-Term Feast

 File:B1C17M3 Gryffindor winning the House Cup.jpg
The End-of-Term Feast (or Leaving Feast) was a traditional part of the school year at Hogwarts, held in the Great Hall. It occured on the last night of the term; the Feast was notable for including the awarding of the House Cup to the house with the highest points.

## Behind the scenes

 File:Lego Great Hall.jpg
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* The Great Hall set is arguably the most recognisable set from the Harry Potter films and has a rare distinction in the film industry of being in use for nearly a decade. In those years the set has undergone relatively few changes:
	+ In the third film, Dumbledore's Owl Lecturn has been added, and there are more floating candles of various shapes and sizes.
	+ The fourth film sees the most noticeable change to the set in that a second, higher section has been added to the raised wooden platform on which the staff table sits, allowing for the addition of an additional table (presumably for the faculty of Beauxbatons and ***Durmstrang*** and the judges for the Triwizard Tournament to sit). Though the second table disappears following the fourth film the second section of the platform remains (although it was removed when the set was put on display for MHP).
* The addition of the Viaduct Courtyard brought about a major inconsistency between the exterior model and interior set that remained unfixed in both the films and video games until With the re-design of the front entrance to resemble the Clock Tower and its courtyard, the design team forgot to include stairs leading up to the Great Hall's elevated position that had been previously been represented by the Chamber of Reception. The floor level of the Great Hall is between the short and tall sets of windows. The short windows below the Great Hall had been originally designed for the ***Hogwarts kitchens***, but that area was not seen in the films. The lack of stairs means that anyone walking through the new entrance would "magically" teleport up to the first floor, which is where the windows corresponding with the interior sets of the Entrance Hall and Great Hall were. The video games hid this issue by using different textures for the interior and exterior areas so they could exist at the same time. The issue was fixed by inverting the window positions so that the taller windows that matched the floor of the interior sets were on the bottom of the model and then the smaller windows were on top (which completely removed the original intention of the smaller windows being for the Kitchens). However, it still was not fixed. This issue has proven to be catastrophic to fan-made models of the castle, notably those made in Minecraft, because it almost always resulted in the interior areas not being made correctly.
* Despite being categorised as being on the ground floor, the Great Hall was portrayed in the films as being on the first floor until Template:DH.
* The door behind the staff tables leads to a staircase, shown in the first film, which is architecturally impossible because the exterior wall is directly against the back wall of the Great Hall. This staircase could only be supported by magic, and is impossible to include on fan-made models of the castle without modifying the design somehow.
* The design for the Great Hall set in the films was based on the dining hall at Christ Church, Oxford. The art made for Pottermore also appears to do the same.
* While Hogwarts itself is based upon real castles is the UK, there was, obviously, a great deal of creative licence taken. The ceiling in the great hall, for example, is shown as having what is known as a hammer beam construction. The design was developed in the UK hundreds of years ago and used primarily in cathedrals, palaces, and royal homes. However, the weight of the ceiling, particularly under wind or snow load, would push the walls outward and collapse in on itself. Therefore, we must imagine the enchantment is not merely aesthetic but structural as well.
* The enchanted ceiling is only seen once during the daytime in the films (the majority of the time it simply being absent), however, during the fifth year O.W.L exams, the sky can be clearly be seen as blue with a few clouds when Fred and George's fireworks go off.

 File:Bellatrix-lestrange-hogwarts-wip00.jpg
* Bellatrix Lestrange also wrecked the Great Hall, but this must have been a detour as Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, Fenrir Grayback, Amycus Carrow, Alecto Carrow and Thorfinn Rowle walked from the Astronomy Tower to Hagrid's Hut, the Great Hall is not between these two locations, and from the way they were exiting means they must have either come from the back of the Great Hall or the Trophy Room. This most likely is an error in the film or that the production decided to include another secret passage.

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* In Template:DH, Harry and Voldemort duel at the Entrance Courtyard instead of the Great Hall, although the duel between Bellatrix Lestrange and Molly Weasley still takes place here.
* In Template:DH, Headmaster Severus Snape held a spontaneous assembly, which every Hogwarts student attended, to inform them that Harry Potter had recently been sighted in Hogsmeade, and that helping him enter the castle would result in severe punishment. To this, Harry himself stepped forward from the crowd, accusing Professor Snape of murdering Albus Dumbledore. This ultimately resulted in the duel between Professor Snape and McGonagall, and then in the sacking of Professor Snape.
* PopCo, a toy company, has made a Great Hall playset available in stores in 2007. The figures that go with this set are all 3.75 inch tall. The figures are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid, Severus Snape, Dolores Umbridge, Argus Filch, Minerva McGonagall, Mad-Eye Moody, Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, Young Tom Riddle, Dementors, Death Eaters, Sirius Black, Grawp, Magorian, Bane, Thestral, Kreacher, Death Eater dummy, Fang, Mrs Norris, Hedwig, Sorting Hat, Patronus, Nagini and many, many more accessories."
* In Template:DH, half of the Great Hall was blown up due to the battle. Because of this, instead of three towers at the top of the Great Hall, there were only two left.
* In the books and the films, the arrangement of each house table changes throughout each year. It is Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff which is closest to the doors, from the perspective of the teachers table. However, during the Triwizard Tournament, Harry walked between the tables of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, Fleur Delacour walked between the tables of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, while Slytherin table is closest to the doors. Throughout the films, the layout changes every year but in their own way.
* In the books, it's implied that there are multiple doors in the Great Hall which lead into various side chambers, though in the films there is only one behind the staff table which leads into the Trophy Room.
	+ Additionally, when the Great Hall set was being photographed for the digital recreation, it was noted that the stone floor had been cleaned and polished, whereas in the films the floor was dirty and dusty. As a result, the visual effects team had to modify the digital recreation of the hall so that the floor looked dusty.

## Appearances

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* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS
* Template:POA
* Template:GOF
* Template:OOTP
* Template:HBP
* Template:DH
* Template:DH

## Notes and references

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1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 Template:PS
2. ↑ Template:COS
3. ↑ Template:HPFW

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