Gringotts

**Gringotts** is the only bank in the wizarding world. They are owned and operated by goblins. There is a branch in Diagon Alley. It appears throughout the *Harry Potter book series*.

## About

Gringotts has branches across the wizarding world in England and abroad.

### Employees

The goblin workers wear a uniform of scarlet and gold and they welcome people when they enter the bank. The goblins writes on large ledgers, weigh coins and glowing rubies the size of coals on brass scales, and examine stones. To gain access to any vault in Gringotts, the customer has to have a specific token. A goblin will take them to a cart and drive them underground to get what they need.

Other jobs at Gringotts include desk jobs and Curse-Breakers who get to travel the world in pursuit of objects. These roles are known to be taken by witches and wizards.

### Currency

There are three kinds of coins: gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts. There are seventeen sickles to a galleon and twenty-nine knuts to a sickle. Gringotts exchanges Muggle currency for these coins.

## Vaults

The level of security around each vault increases the deeper down the cart goes. The vaults vary in size. The vaults near the surface are smaller and have minimal security but the deepest vaults belong to ancient and wealthy wizarding families.

At the medium level is where the Potter family keep their valuables. The right key will unlock the door. At the deepest level where the Philosopher's Stone was kept, a thief will be pulled through the door and be trapped in there until a goblin checks whether anyone is inside, which only happens once every ten years.

### Diagon Alley branch

The building towers above every shop in Diagon Alley. It is snowy-white and has white stone steps leading up to bronze doors. These doors in turn lead to another pair of doors in silver. Through the silver doors is a marble hall that has long counters. There are many doors which lead to rooms adjacent from the hall.

Through a door in the main hall is a narrow stone passageway which slopes steeply down towards railway tracks. The goblin worker accompanies and guides the customer to their vault, whistling at the railway tracks for a cart to arrive. The rattling cart which only have one speed, will travel through a tight maze of twisting passages and corners, going deeper and deeper into the ground. It gets colder and colder the deeper the carts go. There is a ravine.

The silver doors have these words engraved:

 "Enter stranger, but take head
Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there..."

## History

In summer 1991, the vault that had the Philosopher's Stone was broken into the same day that Hagrid took the Philosopher's Stone from it. An investigation was launched and it was determined that unknown Dark witches and wizards probably tried to get in but in a statement, the workers stated that nothing had been stolen. A goblin spokesperson later told interviewers he wasn't going to tell anyone what was in it. It was later discovered that the thief was Voldemort searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

In summer 1992, Harry and the Weasley family collected funds for their shopping trip. Harry saw how empty their vault was, and thought he had to hide the inside of the Potter vault because he was way richer. In summer 1993, Harry collected funds again when he was staying at the Leaky Cauldron, and purchased new school things, and dined at cafés.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 5
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 4
4. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 25
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 8
6. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 17
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 4