SCENE

Reptile House at London Zoo where Harry finds out that he understands the language of snakes.

ADDRESS

Outer Circle, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, United Kingdom

LOCATION DETAILS

London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. In 1831 or 1832 the animals of the Tower of London menagerie were transferred to the zoo's collection. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847. Today it houses a collection of 698 species of animals, with 20,166 individuals, making it one of the largest collections in the United Kingdom. The zoo is sometimes called Regent's Zoo. The Reptile House was built in 1926. It was erected on the site of the Ape House, and two other Reptile Houses had existed previously, the first erected in 1849 (before ZSL London Zoo had even opened to the public) and the second in 1882. The reptile house was desiged by Dr Joan Beauchamp Procter, Curator of Reptiles, with the architect Sir Edward Guy Dawber. The reptile sculptures at the entrance to the building are by the sculptur George Alexander.

This famous scene where a burmese python speaks to Harry Potter for the first time was filmed in November 2001. In fact, the enclosure filmed is actually home to a black mamba. (source London Zoo)

(source Wikipedia)