More a fortified manor house and one of the first buildings in Ghent to be built in stone, it was constructed in the early 13th century by nobleman Gerald Vilain. As if his curiously apt surname isn't enough, a man of dark hair and looks who allegedly married five times after killing each wife to marry another, he was nicknamed 'the devil'. Through the centuries it has been used variously as a knights’ residence, an arsenal, a monastery, a prison, a school, a bishop’s seminary, an orphanage, a mental asylum, a music academy and a fire station. Finally, since 1904, it has been the State Archives Office.