Hotel Alte Poft - Passionspieldorf Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany

Description

Hotel Alte Poft - Passionspieldorf Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany
#: 810
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Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and across the world for its 380-year tradition of mounting Passion Plays.
The Oberammergau Passion Play was first performed in 1634. According to local legend, the play is performed every ten years because of a vow made by the inhabitants of the village that if God spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague then sweeping the region, they would perform a passion play every ten years. A man traveling back to the town for Christmas allegedly brought the plague with him by accident. The man purportedly died from the plague and it began spreading throughout Oberammergau. After the vow was made, according to tradition, not another inhabitant of the town died from the plague. All of the town members that were still suffering from the plague are said to have recovered.
The play is now performed in years ending with a zero, as well as in 1934 which was the 300th anniversary and 1984 which was the 350th anniversary (though the 1920 performance was postponed to 1922 due to postwar economic conditions, and the 1940 performance was cancelled due to the onset of the Second World War in 1939). The 2020 play is being postponed to 2022. It involves over 2000 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, all residents of the village.
About half the inhabitants of Oberammergau took part in the once-a-decade Passion Play in 2010.
Over 2,000 villagers performed the story of the Passion of Jesus for the audiences from around the world. This was a labor-intensive community enterprise, in which only natives of the village could participate. Performances have taken place between mid-May and early October.
The play has a major economic impact on Oberammergau. There is a local expression "Die Passion zahlt" ("The Passion Play will pay for it") in explaining how the Oberammergau community financed construction of a new community swimming pool, community centre, and other civic improvements. Since 1930, the number of visitors has ranged from 420,000 to 530,000. Most tickets are sold as part of a package with one or two nights' accommodation.
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