About the Passion Play and its history

The play shows the story of 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 at about 10.30 pm. There is a dinner break of three hours.

The text of the Passion Play was adapted between 1850 and 1860 by the parish priest Alois Daisenberger from Oberammergau.

The structure of the play with its living pictures from the Old Testament and the acted scenes from the New Testament have been retained.

The music for the Passion Play was written in 1815 by the Oberammergau school teacher Rochus Dedler. Employing a large choir and orchestra his compositions frame the entire play still today.

In the year of 1633, when Oberammergau was in the grip of the black plaque, the inhabitants took an oath that they would stage a performance of the bitter suffering of Jesus Christ every ten years. For the first time in 1634 the inhabitants of Oberammergau fulfilled their oath, and in 2010 the village Oberammergau in the Ammer-valley will be marked by its “Passion Play” again.

For a hundred years, in spite of dangers and threats, Oberammergau truly kept the solemn promise, a sign of loyalty and tradition. With inner conviction the amateur actors are about to represent again the life and sufferings of Our Lord.

Pilgrims from all over the world will be fascinated by the play, a testimony of religious faith.

Oberammergau, famous all over the world for being rooted to the soil, will state again that the play is still as valid as it was 376 years ago and that it has become an outstanding cultural event of Bavaria and Germany.

Although text and music were adapted to our present time, the amateur performers’ original conception of tradition and the obliging oath have remained.