Oberammergau

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Oberammergau from the summit of Kofel

Oberammergau is a village in Bavaria in Germany, most famous for its production of a passion play depicting the life and death of Jesus. The play was first performed in 1634 and is the result 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. The play is now performed in years ending with a zero, except 1984 which was the 350th anniversary, and involves over 2000 performers, all residents of the village.

See Oberammergau Passion Play.

Tongue-twister

The name of the village (as well as that of neighboring Unterammergau) appears in a well-known German tongue-twister:

'Heut kommt der Hans nach Haus', / Freut sich die Lies' / Ob er aber über Oberammergau, / Oder aber über Unterammergau. / Oder aber überhaupt net kommt, / ist nicht g'wiß!

Translation: 'Today Hans comes home' / Lies rejoices / But whether he's coming via Oberammergau / or else via Unterammergau / or else not coming at all / is not certain!

External link

[Official site]

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