Oberammergau
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Related to Oberammergau: Zugspitze, Oberammergau Passion Play
Oberammergau
(ō'bəräm`ərgou), town (1994 pop. 5,343), Bavaria, S Germany, in the Bavarian Alps. It has been a noted center of woodcarving since the 12th cent. Oberammergau is famous for the Passion playPassion play,genre of the miracle play that has survived from the Middle Ages into modern times. Its subject is the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Passion plays were first given in Latin. By the 13th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. performed there every 10 years (most recently in 2000), originally (1634) in fulfillment of a vow made during a plague in 1633. Tourism is the town's major source of income. There are numerous fresco-decorated houses and a rococo church.
Bibliography
See study of the town's Passion play by J. Shapiro (2000).
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Oberammergau
a village in S Germany, in Bavaria in the foothills of the Alps: famous for its Passion Play, performed by the villagers every ten years (except during the World Wars) since 1634, in thanksgiving for the end of the Black Death. Pop.: 5363 (2003 est.)
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005