Royal Guild of Saint-Sebastian in Bruges, Archery museum in Bruges, Belgium

The Royal Guild of Saint-Sebastian in Bruges occupies a red-brick complex on Carmersstraat, with a stepped gable, tall arched windows with light stone surrounds, a large arched doorway with a dark wooden door, and a square tower topped by a steep slate spire and finial. The guild, a handbow archers' association, keeps its art collection and archives in buildings enlarged in late Gothic style in the seventeenth century and restored in neo-Gothic style around 1900 by Louis Delacenserie.

The guild of handbow archers of Saint Sebastian took shape as an organised association in the fourteenth century, with statutes recorded from 1424. In 1454 Pieter II Adornes donated a property on the Rolweg to his brother Jacob, the guild's headman. In 1572 the guild bought the Lombaertsheester building and garden in the Carmersstraat, where it remains; the complex was enlarged in late Gothic style in the seventeenth century and heavily restored around 1900 by Louis Delacenserie.

The guild takes its name from Saint Sebastian, protector against sudden and unforeseen death. Its core activity, gaaischieten (popinjay shooting), grew into four disciplines: the lying wip at 18 m, the standing wip at 30 m, targets at 25 m and at 60 m. Members were mainly middle-class craftsmen, unlike the noble Sint-Jorisgilde.

The guild is still based in the Lombaertsheester building and garden on Carmersstraat, bought in 1572, so look for the red-brick front with its stepped gable and slate spire. The complex was restored around 1900 by Louis Delacenserie and again several times in the twentieth century. The guild keeps its art collection and archives there.

The guild is the only association from Bruges's golden age that has functioned without interruption to this day, and it has largely kept its archives since the fourteenth century. Its 1424 statutes set out its workings and organisation in detail.