"SITE OF THE PASSION PLAY" Oberammergau Travelogue by colin_bramso

Oberammergau Travel Guide: 56 reviews and 197 photos

ARTS & CRAFTS CENTRE

Most famous around the world for the Passion Play, Oberammergau is also a major wood carving centre. Over 100 expert woodcarvers create their art in the village, much of it religious but they also produce many other items and also toys. The play is presented only once every ten years but the woodcarvers are always there!

It's actually something of a crafts centre because there are also goldsmiths, blacksmiths, artists, basket-makers and potters among others living and creating their art in the village.

Oberammergau is also famous for the beautiful frescoes of traditional Bavarian themes, fairy tales, or religious scenes painted on many of the homes and other buildings.

It's not large, population is only about 5,000 and it's nestled in a valley, fairly flat and easy to walk around - always the best way to get to know a place.

Beautiful flowers on the houses

We were in Oberammergau in September and the weather was beautiful with blue sky and warm sunshine.

The traditional houses were even more attractive because many had a blaze of colour added from the window boxes full of flowers. And the greenery all around the village and on the surrounding mountains really made for a restful, relaxing atmosphere.

Pedestrian-friendly streets

Although tourism is the mainstay of the economy, with many times more visitors than population, the village wasn't crowded when we were there. Walking around was a pleasure, very little traffic, fresh country air and beautiful architecture & fascinating shops to admire and visit.

Beautiful village house

The architecture is fascinating, picturebook-style and to my eye very attractive. That applied equally to the small houses and the larger public buildings.

Oberammergau is a very pretty, very clean, neat and tidy village which the inhabitants are obviously very proud of.

House murals.

One of the unique things to see is the story-book paintings on many of the buildings.

Apparently the tradition started around 200 years ago when wealthy people commissioned artists to paint murals on the outside of their houses. It quickly became fashionable and more and more houseowners did it. The tradition has continued since.

Many of the murals are religious but there is a whole variety of art on display, including fancy additions to the doors and windows.