I remember the thrill of first seeing Hogwarts come to life on the big screen. To have my personal, imaginary renderings of the castle from book details mingle with a more physical reality of seeing the castle on screen was magical in and of itself. In this video from Architectural Digest, Meredith Cohen breaks down many of the fictional castle’s details through the lens of an architectural historian. As you might guess, Hogwarts displays a hodgepodge of castle features, drawing from many different castle styles from different eras. Cohen draws a parallel to the Louvre as a real-life example of a castle that displays a patchwork of architectural details that spans multiple periods.

Discover the real-world influences that filmmakers incorporated into the eclectic design of the world’s most famous school of witchcraft and wizardry.