"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Monday, September 7th 2026
A balmy late-summer evening, around 50 enthusiastic visitors and a film that could hardly have been more perfectly suited to the venue: with the first ‘Cinema in the Park’, the Iron Library and the Paradies Monastery have successfully trialled a new event format. The event proved to be a successful continuation of a varied and well-attended summer season at Paradies.
On Monday evening, the historic park of the Paradies Monastery was transformed into an atmospheric open-air cinema. The film screened was Wes Anderson’s multi-award-winning comedy ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, which captivated the audience with its subtle humour and extraordinary visual style. Shortly after sunset, guests gathered in the monastery park.
A special atmosphere developed under the open sky: many visitors took the opportunity to linger in the park before the film began, enjoying a picnic or buying refreshments from the kiosk. The cosy late-summer evening thus provided a fitting conclusion to this beautiful summer.
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ tells the story of the legendary concierge Gustave H. and his young protégé Zero. In a magnificent hotel in the mountains, the pair find themselves caught up in a turbulent adventure involving a valuable painting, a family inheritance and a mysterious death. With its unmistakable humour, lovingly crafted characters and striking imagery, the film transports the viewer to a bygone world full of elegance, hospitality and extraordinary encounters.
It was precisely these themes that made the film particularly well-suited to the venue. The traditional Grand Budapest Hotel on the big screen found its charming counterpart in the historic ambience of the Paradies monastery estate. At the same time, a delightful connection was forged with the recently opened Hotel 1802, which now welcomes guests on the monastery estate’s grounds. Thus, the film and its setting merged in a unique way.
The film evening was another highlight of a varied summer programme organised by the two GF Foundations, the Iron Library and Paradies. This included public guided tours of the Iron Library, river cruises on the Rhine, expert-led tours of the arboretum, bookbinding and cyanotype workshops, as well as an open day for the whole family in July. These events enabled numerous visitors to discover the Paradies monastery estate from ever-changing perspectives.
The successful evening demonstrated that the new format has generated considerable interest. For the organisers, it is therefore clear that the open-air cinema experiment was a success and that ‘Cinema in the Park’ will take place again next year. Once more, the monastery park will serve as an open-air setting for a special film evening under the starry sky.
