Once again, the world-famous Passion Play returns to the beautiful village of Oberammergau for its 42nd performance. Why not make 2020 the year you experience this 'play of life and death', combined with the beauty of Bavaria, Germany, Austria and Italy on one of our fully-escorted tours.
Imagine a small Bavarian village nestling in the shadows of the Alps in 1633. The Great Plague descended and many lives were lost to this mysterious illness. The villagers made a solemn vow that, if the lives of the villagers were spared the whole village would perform a play every ten years, depicting the story of Christ’s suffering, dying and resurrection. Miraculously the Plague did not claim any more lives and so true to their vows, the villagers of Oberammergau enacted their first play in 1634.
The tradition, which has continued without interruption every decade since, in spite of wars and other problems, will be continued for the 42nd time in 2020.
Famous throughout the world, it is expected that around 500,000 people will attend the Passion Play in 2020, over half of these will be guests from around the world.
Due to a play law, the performers of the play all come from the village beautiful village of Oberammergau, to maintain the tradition of the solemn vow the villagers made in 1633. Everyone taking part must have been born there, or lived in the village for at least 20 years. At times, the stage also holds small herds of sheep and goats, donkeys, a hors and armoured Roman soldiers.
From Ash Wednesday, 2019, all of the performers let their hair grow – the men also let their beards grow – so that they have an authentic biblical appearance.
Altogether, there will be more than 2000 Oberammergau villagers taking part in this world-famous play in 2020.
The play runs from mid May to the beginning of October starting at 2:30pm and finishing at 10:30pm with a break for dinner at 5pm.
The picture-perfect Bavarian town of Oberammergau is located in the picturesque Ammergau Alps, and along with the Passion Play, is also known for its wood carvings and colourful frescoes – or Lüftlmalerei – which decorate many of the buildings. The town is a good base to see the impressive Linderhof Palace – favourite of King Ludwig II, and his famous fairy tale Neuschwanstein Castle.
We have a collection of tours which combine the performance of the Passion Play and the picturesque town of Oberammergau with visits to some of Europe's most wonderful towns, cities and stunning scenery.
We take great care in looking after all of your tour arrangements. With carefully-planned itineraries and a range of excursions, plus the option of convenience coach joining points or Door-to-Door service on most tours, you can sit back, relax and let us take care of the rest.
There is a choice of accommodation, ranging from lovingly appointed rooms in private houses to luxurious hotels. Tickets for the Passion Play are allocated along with the accommodation, and whilst we can't advise on the exact location of the seats, as a general rule, the higher the grade of accommodation, the better the seats. See the seating plan below which illustrates the location of each ticket category.
Category D Accommodation: Includes Ticket Category 2. Category D accommodation will be 2-star hotels or 3-star pensions/guest houses in Oberammergeau.
Category C Accommodation: Includes Ticket Category 1 or 2. For Category C accommodation, you will stay in 3-star hotels or 4-star pensions/guest houses in Oberammergau.
Category B Accommodation: Includes Ticket Category 1 or 2. If you choose Category B accommodation, your stay will be in 4-star hotels or 5-star pensions/guest houses in Oberammergau. Details of accommodation will be confirmed closer to the time.
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Why not take a look at our full list of our tours to Oberammergau?
