As early as 1461, a wooden cross stood here, serving as a place of worship for pilgrims and worshippers.
REFORMATION-COUNTER-REFORMATION: Prince Carl Theodor Otto zu Salm had the hexagonal chapel built between 1669 and 1672. Like many places in the Westphalian border region, the Regnieter Kreuzkapelle was intended to give Dutch border residents the opportunity to participate in Catholic services, as this was no longer permitted in their country. Since the Reformation in 1517, the family of the Lords of Anholt, the Counts of Bronckhorst-Batenburg, adhered to the Catholic faith. However, those of other faiths were accepted. It is known that Protestant Christians have lived in Anholt for around 400 years.
CONSTRUCTION: With its hexagonal floor plan, to which the portal and chancel adjoin, the entire building has the shape of a cross. The chapel, built in the Westphalian Baroque style, has a domed onion dome with a lantern at the top. The entrance is formed by an archway with a double wooden door. Above the archway, a relief depicting the Salm coat of arms, framed by a collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, serves as the overdoor. In 1675, the prince founded the Vicary of St. Cross and St. Anthony. Prince Nikolaus Leopold zu Salm-Salm and his wife, Princess Dorothea, appointed a special priest for the chapel to ensure that a mass would be held there every day. They also commissioned the Anholt sculptor Johann Theodor Nadorp to furnish the interior of the Chapel of the Cross with new furnishings. From 1811 to 1830, no services were held in the Regnieter Chapel. This also meant the cancellation of the three large, traditional processions to the Chapel of the Cross, which had taken place on: 1. the Monday of Pentecost, 2. the Sunday before Pentecost (Chapel Sunday), and 3. Good Friday. The Good Friday procession was reintroduced in 1839 by Pastor Breymann, as was the Corpus Christi procession on Chapel Sunday until 1890. (Source: Plaque in front of the chapel and the book "Anholter Geschichten zur 650 Jahr Feier")