Arts and Music Atlas

Works, Makers, Traditions
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Work

Oberammergau Passion Play

Dramatic and Theatrical Works

The Oberammergau Passion Play is a dramatization of Christ's final days performed by the residents of the Bavarian village of Oberammergau. According to local tradition the village vowed in 1633, during a bubonic plague outbreak, to perform the play every ten years if spared further deaths; no further plague deaths followed, and the village first staged the play in 1634. It has been performed every ten years from 1634 to 1674 and each decadal year since 1680, with more than 2,000 resident actors, musicians and support staff, a communal production rather than a professional or single-author one.

Facts
Year Created
1634 1
Founding year of the tradition; the play has since been restaged every ten years (1634-1674) and every decadal year from 1680 onward, not performed only once.
Medium
Communal theatrical performance, staged outdoors by village residents rather than professional or credited-author dramatists 1
Location
Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany 1
Classification
Genre
Theatre 1
Connections

In Form

Theatre, Art Forms
Source Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Oberammergau Passion Play, lead section
    Oberammergau is a village in Bavaria, Germany
  • Oberammergau Passion Play, Performers section
    a community effort rather than a professional theatrical production
  • Genre reference
    The Oberammergau Passion Play is a dramatization of Christ's final days performed by the residents of the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.