The MACUSA’s Salem Witch Trial Memorial
By Ani Bundel
Pottermore takes us inside the MACUSA headquarters in Woolworths, and shows us their central statue, dedicated to those who died in the Salem Witch Trials.
More from Culturess
- 8 Hanukkah books to help you celebrate the festival of lights
- Could Taylor Swift top the 2024 Fandoms of the Year list, too?
- Oppenheimer producer wanted Barbie release date moved
- Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends gets Season 3 premiere date
- Billie Eilish speaks out after she claims ‘Variety’ outed her at a red carpet event
As Potterheads, we are all familiar with the great Ministry of Magic, the headquarters for the UK wizarding government, the seat of power one gets to by floo powder or phone booth. We’re also familiar with the statuary that stands in the center of the main hall. Known as the “Fountain of Magical Brethren” statue, this enormous gold piece of art visually dominates the atrium when visitors arrive. A Wizard stands tallest in the center, surrounded by a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.
We also know that statue is a metaphor for what’s wrong in the ministry and the the prejudices that go unseen in the daily lives of the wizarding world. Though the fountain is supposed to show “harmony in the wizarding world” the centaur, goblin and house-elf are all depicted as looking up at the witch and wizard adoringly, and are clearly supposed to be seen as inferior. In the novels, Dumbledore suggests to Harry that he finds it distasteful, while Hermione is just outright horrified by it. When the fountain is destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, it is suggested to the reader that this isn’t such a terrible thing. We do not know if the statue is replaced after the death of Lord Voldemort (after the fall of the Ministry, he had put up a “Magic is Might” statue, showing a wizard and witch sitting atop thrones made from the bodies of Muggles.) But it is hoped that whatever does go up might be a piece of art showing wizards and their magic brethren to be equals.
I bring this up because Pottermore has posted a behind the scenes look at the headquarters of the American wizarding world’s seat of power. The MACUSA headquarters are currently located in the Woolworth’s building in New York City when Newt Scamander arrives in 1926. Much like the Ministry, the MACUSA wants their headquarter to be an impressive sight when visitors first arrive. Production designer Stuart Craig describes it thusly:
“When you enter the MACUSA building, you come up a flight of stairs to the main lobby. Above you, in this 750-foot-high building, there are no floors. There’s just a giant cathedral-like space with hundreds and hundreds of windows. The first things you’ll see, probably, are the phoenixes. They’re forty-foot high! Big gilded phoenix sculptures, covered in gold leaf. They’re rather splendid, actually. They’re the work of our principle sculptor, Bryn Court. We are extremely fortunate to have someone so skilled on our team.”
That’s a far cry from the Ministry’s underground labyrinth and the black smooth tiles of the Harry Potter movies and the lack of natural daylight. But those the MACUSA emphasizes size and air and freedom in its architectural choices, it’s their central statue that caught my attention. Like the Ministry, it stands in the middle of the atrium, deliberate placed that that everyone must walk by–and in this case, though it. And like the both the Fountain of Magical Brethren and the Magic Is Might statues, it speaks volumes about the message the government is trying to impress upon the people who come there.
‘In the middle of this vast space, there’s a huge memorial to the witches of Salem. J.K. Rowling wrote it into the script. The witches in the memorial are bronze sculptures, slightly larger than life. They stand in amongst the crowd, if you can imagine, so people can walk through the memorial and right by the witches.’
There are dozens upon dozens of witches as part of the statue–one for every witch that lost their lives in the Salem Witch Trials. The message is clear, over 300 years later–Never Forget What They Did To Us. It is a statue to remind the American wizarding world of the pain and fear of that time, and that they must never let their guard down, lest they to find themselves among those memorialized as a statue themselves.
They have a statue dedicated to living their lives in fear.