Pikk Hermann or Tall Hermann (German: Langer Hermann) is a tower of the Toompea Castle, on Toompea hill in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The first part was built 136070. It was rebuilt (height brought to 45.6 metres (150 ft)) in the 16th century. A staircase with 215 steps leads to the top of the tower. The tower consists of ten internal floors and a viewing platform at the top.

Pikk Hermann tower is situated next to the Estonian Parliament building and the flag on the top of the tower at 95 metres (312 ft) above sea level is one of the symbols of the government in force.

The national flag, measuring 191 centimetres (75 in) by 300 centimetres (120 in), is raised and the national anthem is played at the time of sunrise (but not earlier than 7 am) and lowered at the time of sunset (but not later than 10 pm). While it is lowered, the song "Mu isamaa on minu arm" (My Fatherland is My Love) is heard. For the first time, the flag was raised to the top of Pikk Hermann at three o'clock in the afternoon of December 12, 1918 after the independence of Estonia. The Soviet troops who later occupied Estonia lowered the flag from the tower in the summer of 1940 and later replaced it with the flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. The original flag was raised back on the tower on February 24, 1989.



The national flag of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti riigilipp) is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white. The normal size is 105 by 165 centimetres (41 in × 65 in). In Estonian it is colloquially called the "sinimustvalge" (lit. '"blue-black-white"'), after the colours of the bands.

The tricolour was already in wide use as the symbol of Estonia and Estonians when the country gained independence in 1918. Formally, it obtained the status of the official national flag on 16 July 1922. The tricolour was used as the national flag until June 1940 when the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Estonia. After the annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in August 1940, the use of the national tricolour and its blue, black and white colour combination was banned and punishable by law in the Soviet Union. The national flag was from 1940 until 1991 continuously used by the Estonian government-in-exile, diplomatic service, and the Estonian diaspora around the world.

In October 1988, the usage of the blue-black-white flag was officially permitted again by Estonian authorities. On the evening of 23 February 1989 the Soviet flag was taken down permanently from the tower of Pikk Hermann of the Toompea Castle. It was replaced with the national blue-black-white flag on the next morning, 24 February, upon the 70th anniversary of the Estonian Declaration of Independence (1918). The national flag was officially re-adopted by the Estonian authorities 7 August 1990, one year before the nation's full restoration of independence.