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What country is Durmstrang in? There are certainly a lot of mentions of aspects of the school (especially how cold it is) but the books and movies never actually say what country it is in. For example:

  1. Krum is from Bulgaria and plays for the Bulgarian national Quidditch team but that doesn't necessarily mean that the school is in Bulgaria.

  2. Krum mentions to Hermione that it is "over the mountains" but doesn't specify which mountains.

  3. In the movie, Dumbledore introduces Karkaroff and the Durmstrang students as his "friends from the North" (Bulgaria is far to the South of Scotland).

  4. Ron says in the book that he wished Malfoy went to Durmstrang because it would be easy to push him off of a glacier.

  5. Fur coats are a standard dress item of the Durmstrang students.

So where is Durmstrang? It's said to be "unplottable", like Hogwarts, but at least we know that Hogwarts is in Scotland.

Valorum
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  • If you scroll down to either the last or one of the last questions on the above link, you'll find an answer with the location of Durmstrang in it. :) – Slytherincess May 11 '14 at 12:05
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    @Slytherincess - It's not a duplicate unless it's a duplicate, even if another answer (on another question) answers it. – Valorum May 11 '14 at 12:19
  • @Richard - That's not what I've been told, but let's see what others have to say. :) ETA: Maybe the mods will weigh in. – Slytherincess May 11 '14 at 12:25
  • @Richard -- FWIW, I really wish there were a way to say, Hey, the answer to Question X is in Question Z, without having to automatically close a question. This one is a good example, as I think it's a good stand-alone question myself (And maybe it's not a dupe -- we'll see!). – Slytherincess May 11 '14 at 12:39
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    @Slytherincess That answer notes the location of Durmstrang in a parenthetical comment, and doesn’t cite the assertion. Richard’s answer below addresses both of those points. I voted to leave open. – alexwlchan May 11 '14 at 13:04
  • @alexwlchan -- That's fine, of course. To clarify, I had read this answer and not any comments. The lack of citation is noted, but it is correct. This brings up a different question for me, though. When voting to close as a duplicate, does the information in question have to come from the accepted answer? I'll go make a post on meta and if the consensus is yes, then I'll vote to reopen. :) – Slytherincess May 11 '14 at 17:11
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    @alexwlchan -- DVK's answer doesn't address Durmstrang at all. (That's not at all to say DVK's answer isn't a good one. I'm just noting the fact.) I think that makes the need for a meta post all the more necessary. – Slytherincess May 11 '14 at 17:17
  • @Slytherincess: I don’t think the information has to come from the accepted answer, but I think it should be reasonably obvious/easy to find. That’s not true of the cited duplicate. – alexwlchan May 11 '14 at 18:39
  • No, Drumstrang is said to be unplottable in contrast to Hogwarts. Read the books, not the wiki. – ibid Feb 05 '17 at 05:21

2 Answers2

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According to an attendee report of "J.K. Rowling's reading for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre" in December 9, 2000;

Jo [JKR] thinks that Durmstrang is in northern Scandinavia - the very north of Sweden or Norway and that Beauxbatons is somewhere near Cannes in the south of France. She says she doesn't know for certain because, of course, the exact whereabouts of these schools is a closely- guarded secret to which she is not privy!

Please note that this is a report. No official transcript exists, however this report has been confirmed by several people who were in attendance.

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  • @alexwlchan - I'm fairly sure someone would have mentioned it for me anyway :-) – Valorum May 11 '14 at 17:22
  • I wonder who in their right mind would put a school to the very north of Sweden or Norway. – b_jonas Dec 10 '15 at 15:07
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    @b_jonas - Swedish and Norwegian people, presumably. Also, anyone who doesn't have to worry about heating bills and can easily fly over frozen roads. – Valorum Dec 10 '15 at 15:08
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The Celebration of Harry Potter Event (2016) debuted a map of the Wizarding World which located the various wizarding schools.

Assuming there is only one magic school in Northern Europe, Durmstrang would appear to be somewhere in Northern Russia, relatively close to the border with Finland.

enter image description here

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    I don't think that map is meant to be particularly precise, especially when JKR's writing about Durmstrang explicitly states that "Although believed to be situated in the far north of Europe, Durmstrang is one of the most secretive of all schools about its whereabouts, so nobody can be quite certain." Note also that, according to the same source, the school premises include "the great, dark, spectral ship that is moored on a mountain lake* behind the school"*, while Northern Russia is quite flat. – lfurini Mar 30 '16 at 18:13
  • @lfurini - You're not wrong. And even if you assume that the red bordering on the school picture marks the area where the school might be located, pretty much nowhere in that vicinity matches the location. I assume the mountain it's sitting next to is unplottable. – Valorum Mar 30 '16 at 18:35