14 DAY TRIAL // First off, it must be said that, if you're a big fan of J. K. Rowling's “Harry Potter” series, you might want to skip this piece of news. Otherwise, you might just want to quit your job, abandon your friends and family, and book a flight to China as soon as you finish reading the last paragraph.
Not to beat about the bush, it appears that the city of Xinle in the country's Hebei province is now home to a downright mind-blowing building that can only be described as a real-life Hogwarts, the school of magic where Harry Potter learned his tricks.
The bad news is the building is not really a magic castle
It is understood that this building in China, photos of which are available in the gallery below, is part and parcel of the country's Hebei Academy of Fine Arts. It comes complete with freakishly tall towers and fairytale-like windows. It even has a clock tower.
It is not really a magic castle. Thus, Oddity Central tells us that it was erected to offer the Academy's animation students a place to hang out and be inspired. Apparently, being at student at the Hebei Academy of Fine Arts in China is among the best possible experiences anyone could ever hope for.
“We want our students to be inspired and this impressive fairytale architecture is exactly what they need for working in a creative environment,” a spokesperson for the Academy told the press in a recent interview.
Furthermore, “It’s important for the students and for the staff that they feel part of something special, and that is enough magic to ensure what we have created is a fine institution for furthering interest in the study of arts.”
Word has it that this impressive building in China cost about $3.8 million (€3 million) to erect. Although work on this real-life Hogwarts was completed some time ago, the building is yet to welcome its first students. It is expected that the first animation students will walk its corridors later this year.
The designers say they were not inspired by Hogwarts
What's interesting is that, although pretty much everybody agrees that this building in China very much resembles the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, its creators claim that they were not in any way inspired by J. K. Rowling's Harry novels.
On the contrary, they say that they designed the building in this fairly peculiar manner because they wanted animation students attending classes at the Hebei Academy of Fine Arts to be reminded of European architecture. Hence the fact that they like to refer to this building as the Cinderella Castle.
