Oberammergau: Where Passion Lives

That was me writing back in 2005 while on Collette’s Alpine Countries tour. Not so hard now to guess that I was recording my first impressions of Oberammergau. Back then, most family and friends had never heard of Oberammergau and had trouble pronouncing it. Skip ahead five years and the village is practically a household name as the 41^st stage production of the famous Passion  Play takes final shape for its May 2010 opening.  

I recall being entranced with our Collette Tour Manager, Rita, as she told us the story of Oberammergau as our motorcoach made its final descent into the picturesque village from our departure city, Innsbruck, an Austrian gem. From the comfort of my seat, I was transported back to the middle of the Thirty Years War, at the beginning of the 17^th century, the time that the “Black Death,” or plague, crept into the remote mountain valleys of the Alps. The villagers kept vigilant guard to prevent the plague from reaching their town, but a man from Oberammergau named Kaspar Schisler, who was working as a farm laborer outside the village, slipped over the mountains to his home. Within a few days he succumbed to the plague – as did a large number of people of Oberammergau. In fact, within a year, the Black Death had claimed over a fifth of the approximately 1,500 inhabitants of Oberammergau with no end to the plague in sight. What a story!

Because so little was known in those days about germs or how they were spread, people believed that their only chance of survival was to pacify God’s fury. So in 1633, surviving villagers swore an oath to perform a “Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ” every ten years if God would show mercy and release their village from the clutches of the plague. According to a chronicle of the time, from the day the villagers of Oberammergau gathered around the cross to swear their sacred vow, no more villagers died of the plague.  A story with a happy ending…even better!

In 2010, a tradition continues

The rest, as they say, is history. The first Passion Play was staged in 1634. In 1680, the performance was moved to the first year of each decade.  Throughout the centuries, despite many dangers and threats, and amidst the historical and cultural changes that have taken place, the villagers of Oberammergau have maintained their solemn promise. Exceptions to this occurred in 1770 in which the church and the state prohibited the staging of passion plays in any form and again in 1940 because of World War II.

The Passion Play House, with its vertical stripes and open air stage, is one of the largest of its kind in the world. Up until 1810, the Passion Plays were performed in the cemetery in front of the parish church. In 1830, they were moved to a meadow outside the village. There in 1900, a large hall accommodating 4000 spectators was built, and later in 1930 it was redesigned and enlarged yet again.

Oberammergau Passion Play: The time has come

Collette Vacations, who has for decades taken many thousands of travelers to the Passion Play, offers eight itineraries that include special reserved seating at a Passion Play performance. In spite of the downturn in the economy that began in 2008 and dogged us throughout 2009, there has once again been tremendous interest in this once-in-a-lifetime event.

For those of you that will witness Oberammergau 2010, I would love to hear from you and get your first impression of the village and the play.  I’ll check back on this topic in the spring.

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posted by Sublime Muse
Melissa McKee, Public Relations Specialist
Collette Vacations

Tags: Escorted Tours, Oberammergau & Passion Play, Tour Manager

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