Passion Plays Oberammergau

The 42nd Oberammergau Passion Play will take place from May 14th to October 2nd, 2022. There is no play on Monday and Wednesday.

The performance is only performed in German, but textbooks in different languages ​​are sold. Every day there is an introduction with interesting facts and background information about the play. This takes 45 minutes each. Outdoor performance - the audience area is covered. Advance ticket sales begin on October 5, 2020.

For more information, contact info (at) passionsspiele-oberammergau.de or www.passionsspiele-oberammergau.de/en/home

The history of the passion play in Oberammergau begins in 1633 with the outbreak of the plague and the promise of the residents that they will perform a play about the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ every 10 years if they should survive this plague. They were heard and so performed the first passion play in Oberammergau in 1634. The vow has been kept to this day, making it one of the greatest passion plays and the most famous in the world. That is why several hundred thousand visitors come to Oberammergau every 10 years. The first game in 1634 was performed in the parish church cemetery. It was not until 1830 that Nikolaus Unhoch built a stage on the northern edge of the village, which is still the layout for the Passion Play Theater today.

Over the years, famous personalities from all over the world also attended the passion play. Like members of the royal families from Sweden, England and Spain and in 1850 the Duchess of Bavaria Elisabeth, later known as Empress Sissi. Well-known industrialists Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin and Henry Ford also attended the passion play in the early 20th century. Likewise some American presidents, for example Dwight D. Eisenhower 1950. And also in 1980 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger visited Oberammergau, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.