Zisterzienserinnenkloster Schledenhorst (vorher Empel)

The convent was founded in 1240 by the knight Bernard von Rees. By 1243, the nunnery was placed under the protection of the Archbishop of Cologne. Six years later, in 1249, it was officially incorporated into the Cistercian order, with spiritual oversight entrusted to the abbot of Kamp Abbey. The priory building suffered fire damage in 1366 and 1400. After the Western Schism, Abbot Heinrich von Rhaey from Kamp Abbey was tasked in 1459 with restoring monastic discipline at Schledenhorst. During the Eighty Years' War, the convent was plundered by Spanish troops in 1598. Further looting occurred in 1631 by marauding soldiers and in 1638 by imperial soldiers during the Thirty Years' War. In the Dutch War, French soldiers devastated the convent in 1672. These repeated destructions led to significant economic weakening, from which the convent never recovered, becoming heavily indebted in the 18th century. The convent was dissolved in 1803 as part of secularization, and the last nuns departed in 1806. Subsequently, the lands, buildings, and inventory were sold, while the church and most of the convent buildings were demolished.

The former convent grounds are now located within the municipality of Rees in the Kleve district of North Rhine-Westphalia, approximately four kilometers southeast of Haldern.

Today, a farm occupies the site of the former convent's economic buildings. At the original convent entrance stands the Schledenhorster Chapel, built from the ruins of the convent church and housing a 15th-century crucifixion group. Two gravestones of abbesses, likely once located in the floor of the convent church, are embedded in the chapel's exterior walls. A small bell from the convent church hangs in the chapel's roof turret. Two other bells from the convent church now form the peal of the Protestant church in Haldern. The so-called Haldern Altarpiece, a late Gothic winged altarpiece attributed to the Master of Schöppingen, presumably originated from the convent church and is now displayed in the Westphalian State Museum in Münster. The parish church in Haldern still houses carved figures from the convent church, and the cabinet organ, built around 1780 for the convent church, is now in the Organ Museum of Leipzig University. Since 1990, a commemorative service is held annually around August 20th, the death anniversary of Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Cistercian order, on the grounds of the former convent church.

• Sonsfeld Castle (Castle, approx. 1069 m away)
• Battenberg Residential Tower (Castle, approx. 1904 m away)
• Bellinghoven Castle (Castle, approx. 2308 m away)
• Averforth House (Castle, approx. 3399 m away)