Tallinn Town Hall

The Tallinn Town Hall displays a long, dark stone facade topped by a slender green spire with a weather vane shaped like a warrior. It is the oldest surviving town hall in Northern Europe, built to hold the administrative offices of a wealthy Hansa merchant city. In the early seventeenth century, the city council hired a local craftsman to fashion that weather vane, known as Old Thomas. He has stood watch over the market square ever since, guarding the city through fires, wars, and sieges.