History of the Passion Play

1633
In the beginning a solemn promise was made: After the War of 30 years the Black Death came to Oberammergau in the year 1632. In 1633 nearly every family lost one or more victims as a consequence of the Black Death. At the Cemetery the Black Death-invalids promised to act the history of Jesus Christ every ten years. The inhabitants of Oberammergau erected a Symbol for Jesus Christ. An etching of the artist Hans Schwaighofer from Oberammergau testifies this.

On Pentecost 1634 the inhabitants of Oberammergau act the Play on a stage which was built at the cemetery and constructed over the fresh graves of the Black Death victims.

Transcript of the oldsest Passion Lyrics document that could be saved. The majority of the 4902 verses emanates from two much older Passion Plays dating before 1634: A Middle Age Passion Play (Second half of the 15th century) whose manuscript was found at the benedictine monastery St Ulrich und Afra in Augsburg. The second text is the Passion-"Tragedi" of the singer Sebastian Wild from Augsburg dating from 1566.

WHAT IS THE PASSION PLAY ?

The play depicts the story of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Passion, beginning with the entry into Jerusalem and ending with the resurrection and transfiguration. Each performance starts at 2:30 pm and ends approximately at 10:30. These times are subject to change by the Passion Play committee. Dinner break lasts about three hours. The performance is performed in German but Friendship Tours will provide a printed English translation. This is a very moving and emotional performance for us believers.

The Passion Play runs from May through September of 2010

Following is the provisional schedule for the two-day performances:

Arrival in Oberammergau:
Sunday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Passion Play:
Monday	Wednesday	Friday
Depart from Oberammergau:
Tuesday	Thursday	Saturday

The Passion Play program starts with dinner on the day of arrival and ends with breakfast on the day of departure. It includes the following:
• Two nights of accommodation
• Five meals (2 dinners, 2 breakfasts, and 1 lunch)
• Tickets to the Passion Play
• Entrance to the exhibition Passion Play in the Alps in the playhouse

Accommodations vary from simple rooms in private homes to first-class hotel rooms with private baths, and prices are on an appropriate scale. Friendship Tours will do its best to obtain your choice of accommodations on your preferred dates. If in spite of our best efforts your preferred accommodations are not available, we will secure the best available category of accommodations for you.

This is our fifth Passion Play and we are delighted to be of service to our clients. In the year 2000, Friendship Tours handled over 3000 passengers in large and small groups. We served every tour in the best way and we plan to repeat it again. We have been in the Christian travel business for over 25 years and handled group ranging in size from 15 to 700 passengers. We pride ourselves in taking care of the smallest detail.

Please contact us and notice the difference. We care !
(800) 213 – 9155

OBERAMMERGAU WEBCAM:
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