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A bronze statue of Harry Potter playing the fictional sport Quidditch was recently unveiled at London’s Leicester [LES-ter] Square.
The statue is the ninth monument placed at Leicester Square as part of Scenes in the Square, a trail of statues that pays tribute to iconic movie characters. The statue was inspired by a scene from the first Harry Potter movie, in which the titular character flew for the first time while playing Quidditch, a sport played using flying broomsticks. It was placed near the cinema where Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone premiered 19 years ago.
3D Eye, the company that created Harry Potter’s statue, used stills from the movie as its reference to complete the life-size artwork. The company made a miniature model first before sculpting the final piece with clay. A steel frame inside the statue helps keep it upright. The final statue was cast using fiberglass and painted with a bronze finish.
To give the illusion that the statue is flying, it is held up about one meter above the ground by a pole that is covered by plants and vines.
Ros Morgan, the chief executive of the group that launched Scenes in the Square, was over the moon when she learned that the next statue was going to be of Harry Potter. She said that she is honored to have a character who is so important to the UK film industry on the trail.
Other statues in Leicester Square created before the Harry Potter statue include Bugs Bunny, Mary Poppins, Mr. Bean, Batman, and Wonder Woman. They will remain in the square until 2023.