Atlas Obscura · People & society

The Peeping Tom of Tallinn

A stone figure with spectacles, located on an Art Nouveau building in Tallinn's Old Town, is said to be a unique form of artistic revenge.

Local legend suggests the figure was created after an elderly man repeatedly spied on a young merchant's wife using opera glasses. The husband commissioned a sculptor to carve the voyeur's likeness, complete with spectacles, and place it on his own house, facing the old man's window.

An alternative theory posits the figure is a purely decorative element, a common feature of Art Nouveau architecture, which later acquired a story to match its appearance.

The figure is situated high on the facade of a house on Pikk Street, opposite the Kanuti Guild Hall, often overlooked by passersby focused on the busy street.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.