The Aspel house is located about 3,000 meters northeast of Rees-Haldern and is considered an example of castle and palace history spanning more than a thousand years. A stone castle was built in the 12th century from an earth mound castle (motte type) built around 950. This castle became a moated castle almost 500 years later under Prussian influence in the 17th century. Visible today is a baroque, two-wing palace complex on the site of the former outer bailey.
The builder of the first stone castle was Count Palatine Richzio. Other owners: Archbishops of Cologne, the von Wittenhorst - Sonsfeld family (after 1686) and the congregation of the "Daughters of the Holy Cross" (since 1850). In 1850, the order "Daughters of the Holy Cross" from Liège (Belgium) bought the manor house. They followed a call to the hospital in the city of Rees. A monastery, novitiate and lyceum were set up in the castle.
During World War II the castle was badly damaged by bombs and shells. After the war ended, it served as a military hospital and hospital before the school was reopened in 1946. In 1972 the monastery and school were separated. Today the Spiritual Center of the Daughters of the Holy Cross is located there, a place of silence, prayer and encounters.
After almost 172 years, the story of the Daughters of the Holy Cross in Haus Aspel in Rees-Haldern will come to an end in 2022.