Voetboogdoelen, Amsterdam

The Voetboogdoelen ("crossbowmen's shooting range") was a 16th-century building on the Singel canal in Amsterdam, at the corner of Heiligeweg near Koningsplein square, which served as headquarters and shooting range of the local schutterij (civic guard). Frans Hals painted a group portrait for the Voetboogdoelen, known as the The Meagre Company.

The spot where the Voetboogdoelen once stood is now occupied by the main building of the Amsterdam University Library. The nearby street Voetboogstraat was named in reference to the Voetboogdoelen.

The Voetboogdoelen, also called Sint-Jorisdoelen after its patron saint, Saint George, was one of three doelens (shooting ranges) for the Amsterdam schutterij (civic guard). The other two shooting ranges were the Handboogdoelen and Kloveniersdoelen, located along the Singel and Kloveniersburgwal canals respectively. The Voetboogdoelen civic guard was armed with crossbows, while the Handboogdoelen civic guard wielded longbows and the Kloveniersdoelen civic guard used an early type of musket, the arquebus.

The Voetboogdoelen was established in 1458 as the shooting range for the voetboogschutterij (crossbowmen's civic guard), and the associated building was completed in the early 16th century. The shooting range extended from the Singel canal to the back side of the houses on Kalverstraat and Heiligeweg.

Amsterdam's militia guilds were formed in the Middle Ages to defend the city against attack. Around 1580, at the behest of William of Orange, these Medieval guilds were incorporated into a new, much larger civic guard to defend the newly Protestant city against the Spanish during the Dutch revolt which ultimately led to a full-blown war of independence, the Eighty Years' War. Officers of this new civic guard were recruited from the well-to-do of Amsterdam.

...
Wikipedia