Old Thomas is one of the symbols and guardian of the city Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

, the capital of Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

. A weather vane

Weather vane

A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

, the figure of an old warrior called Old Thomas was put on top of the spire of Tallinn Town Hall

Tallinn Town Hall

The Tallinn Town Hall is a building in the Tallinn Old Town, in Tallinn, Estonia, beside Town Hall Square. It is the only intact gothic style town hall in the Northern Europe.-History:...

 in 1530. According to the legend, the model for the weather vane was a peasant boy who excelled at the springtime contests involving firing crossbow

Crossbow

A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...

 bolts at a painted wooden parrot on top of a pole, organized by Tallinn's Baltic German

Baltic German

The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...

 elite of the time. Unable to receive a prize because his low-born status, Toomas was rewarded with the job of town guard for life. Old Toomas gave candy to the children in the Town Square, according to local legend. When he died, the children constantly asked, "Where is Old Toomas?", which led to uncomfortable answers about the nature of death. Once the weather vane was erected over the town square, parents would tell the children that Old Toomas was watching how they behave and would leave candy under their pillow for good behavior. This could be the source for the legend of "Peeping Tom" which was added to the Lady Godiva story during the 17th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Godiva).

Immortalized in copper, Toomas continues to watch over Tallinn and its citizens. In 1944 Old Thomas was hit during the March bombardment

Bombing of Tallinn in World War II

The Soviet Long Range Aviation bombed the Estonian capital Tallinn several times during World War II. The first instance was during the Summer War of 1941 . A number of bombing missions followed in 1942–43. The largest of the bombings occurred in March 1944 in connection with the Battle of Narva...

. The burnt spire was reconstructed and a new copy of Old Thomas erected in 1952. In 1996 the spire was renovated and the third Old Thomas figure was put on it to guard Tallinn. The original weather vane is kept in the Town Hall. The one erected in 1952 is shown at the Tallinn City Museum.