Palace Tour
Hi, Exchange Students! Today we'll be taking a tour of the Beauxbatons Palace. Please do your best to stay with the group at all times - it's a big place, so it's very easy to get lost!
We will start outside in the gardens. The Beauxbatons Gardens were originally magically created by Ansellus during the construction of the Beauxbatons Palace, but both the palace and the grounds/gardens have undergone many changes since then. Most of these changes are rumored to be thanks to generous donations of alchemist gold from former students Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel. The gardens have expanded to cover the entire grounds of Beauxbatons - even the Quidditch Pitch is bordered by flowers! In the center of the gardens behind the castle lies the famous Flamel Fountain (likely named after and erected in memory of the Flamels' generous donations). Rumor has it that the Flamel Fountain has healing and beautifying properties...
The gardens are primarily maintained by students who choose Gardening as their style specialization and the Herbology professors, but the gardens are in fact so large that the school has had to hire extra help. The gardens contain a mixture of regular plants and flowers, various herbs and other edible plants, and harmless magical plants. In the front of the palace and in various places throughout the gardens, there are small hedge mazes. The shorter mazes are decorative, while other mazes are taller and have larger areas throughout for students to have quiet, private study spaces.
Beauxbatons has six greenhouses, with four located along the back of the palace and two located further out on the grounds. One greenhouse is used for the kitchen's purposes, while the other five are educational. Students' herbology classes spend about 3/4 of their time with practical work in the greenhouse, and the other 1/4 in a classroom with lectures. Like most other areas at the palace, the Beauxbatons Greenhouses are very spacious and well-decorated.
Elsewhere on the grounds, there are stables and aviaries to keep some of the magical creatures studied in the core class, and dedicated areas for the Jousting Society (though many of the older students prefer to joust in the air).
The underground floor at Beauxbatons is known as The Vaults. The Vaults contain a lot of Beauxbatons' history, including a library with all of the older books from the opening of Beauxbatons and an entire shelf dedicated to the works of Avelina. Other alumni and previous professors' works are stored here, as well. Students are not allowed in the Vault Library for leisure or interest's sake; they must obtain special permission from a class or professor in order to access it. The other half of The Vaults is taken up by classrooms, study spaces, and professor offices. Classes in The Vaults are typically those that can be dangerous and require the use of fire, as The Vaults are entirely made of stone and are the least-decorated part of the palace; so for example, Potions and Alchemy classrooms are in The Vaults. The Sculpting Classroom and Society dormitory are also located in the Vaults.
The kitchens, dining hall, library, some stables, and even a couple of the dormitories are located on the first floor. In addition, many of the arts classrooms are located here, such as the Music Room, Art Classroom, Dance Studio, and even a theatre for dramatic productions!
The Herbology classrooms and Magical Creatures classrooms are also located on the first floor. |
The second floor houses most of the magic core classrooms, including transfiguration, charms, and combat magic (the Beauxbatons equivalent of Defense Against the Dark Arts). The second floor also houses a few dormitories, but the majority of this floor is taken up by a large gymnasium. The gymnasium is able to be partitioned off into smaller gymnasiums if needed.
On the third floor are most of the remaining dormitories (some of the smaller societies have their own buildings on the grounds) and living quarters for the professors. The fourth floor houses the more theoretical classes, such as Magical Law, History of Magic, the many divination classes, and cultural studies, as well as some more professor offices.
On the third floor are most of the remaining dormitories (some of the smaller societies have their own buildings on the grounds) and living quarters for the professors. The fourth floor houses the more theoretical classes, such as Magical Law, History of Magic, the many divination classes, and cultural studies, as well as some more professor offices.
Finally, Beauxbatons has many towers! Most of them are either spaces for students to relax or professor offices, but a few of them are specialized. Of particular interest are the Astronomy tower, the Quidditch Tower, the Library Tower, and the Headmistress' Tower. Most Quidditch-related things, from meetings of those who specialized in it to team strategy meetings and more, are held in the Quidditch Tower. The Library Tower houses very specialized books for intensive research and is mostly used by professors, though students are welcome to use it as well. No students may remove books from the Library Tower, however. The Headmistress' tower is the tallest and most grand tower at Beauxbatons, and it was originally Avelina Lefevre's office.