Example of "Lüftmalerei" or frescoes, of traditional Bavarian themes, fairy tales, or religious scenes found on many homes and buildings in Oberammergau..

OBERAMMERGAU - Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The town is famous for its production of a Passion Play and the NATO School.

CULTURE:

PASSION PLAY > The Oberammergau Passion 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 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, all residents of the village.

Oberammergau Passion Play 2010

About half the inhabitants of Oberammergau take part in the once-a-decade Passion Play in 2010.

This means that over 2,000 villagers will bring the story of Jesus of Nazareth to life for the audiences that flock in from around the world. The play starts with Jesus entering Jerusalem, continues with his death on the cross and finishes with the resurrection. As ever, this is an extraordinary community enterprise.

2010 sees a new production directed by Christian Stückl, director at Munich's noted Volkstheater. He is supported by the artistic team that along with him staged the 2000 Passion Play: deputy director and dramatic adviser Otto Huber, set and costume designer Stefan Hageneier and music director Marxus Zwink and conductor Michael Bocklet - all from Oberammergau. The play starts at 14.30 and including a three-hour interval ends at 22.30, performances take place between mid-May and early October 2010.

TRADITIONAL ART

The village is also known as the home of a long tradition of woodcarving. The streets of central Oberammergau are home to dozens of woodcarver shops, with pieces ranging from religious subjects, to toys, to humorous portraits.

Oberammergau is also famous for its "Lüftlmalerei," or frescoes, of traditional Bavarian themes, fairy tales, or religious scenes found on many homes and buildings. Lüftlmalerei is common Upper Bavaria and its name may be derived from an Oberammergau house called Zum Lüftl, which was the home of facade painter Franz Seraph Zwinck (1748–1792).

Upper Bavaria (German: Oberbayern) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the south of Bavaria, around the city of Munich. It is subdivided into four regions (Planungsverband): Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland (Upper Bavaria), and Südostoberbayern (South East Upper Bavaria). It is named 'Upper Bavaria' because the land is higher above sea level, not according to the map.

"Lüftlmalerei,"

Tongue-twister
The name of the village (as well as that of neighbouring 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 nicht kommt, / Ist nicht g'wiß!
Translation: Hans is coming home today / Lies rejoices / Whether he's coming via Oberammergau / Or via Unterammergau / Or not coming at all / Is unknown!

Military

NATO School, NATO's key training and education facility on the operational level, has been located in Oberammergau since 1953.

References in popular culture

In Pat Conroy's novel, The Prince of Tides, Savannah Wingo writes a poem which celebrates the "shy Oberammergau of the itinerant barber;" her praise for her grandfather's tradition of walking around town carrying a 90 pound cross every Good Friday.

The 1934 film Twentieth Century, starring John Barrymore, mentions the famous passion play.

In Maud Hart Lovelace's novel Betsy and the Great World, Betsy visits Oberammergau and meets many of the people involved in the passion play.

Also, the passion play inspired the Brazilians to create one of the largest outdoor theaters in the world, called New Jerusalem city theater in Pernambuco.

Jerome K Jerome wrote 'The Diary of a Pilgrimage' about his journey to see the Passion Play. There is an audio version of this book available to download from Audible.

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From :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberammergau

Related Links:

History of 'Passion Play'- http://www.oberammergau.org/2007/10/introduction.html
Officual Website : http://www.ammergauer-alpen.de/en/oberammergau/index.html