Wender·Vista
Graz
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileAustria
in southern Austria, on the Mur

Graz

— — the tower the city paid Napoleon to spare.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Austria's second city, on a green bend of the Mur in southern Styria. The Schlossberg rises straight from the old town, its clock tower still keeping the wrong time on purpose, the hour hand long, the minute hand short, the way it has since the 1560s. Below, the red-tiled roofs run down to the river. A coffee house on Hauptplatz fills early.

from the studio
Graz
— bring it home

Graz, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Graz

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Graz is the capital of Styria and Austria's second-largest city, with about 290,000 residents on the Mur in the country's southeast. The old town joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1999; Schloss Eggenberg, the seventeenth-century palace on the western edge, was added in 2010. The city sits at about 353 metres above sea level, sheltered between the Eastern Alps and the Pannonian Basin, which gives it warm dry summers and the longest growing season in Austria. The Mur runs through the centre, north to south.

— the stone

The Schlossberg, a wooded dolomite knoll about 123 metres above the river, carried a fortress that withstood every Ottoman siege. Napoleon's forces razed it in 1809 after the Treaty of Schönbrunn, except the Uhrturm and the bell tower, which the citizens of Graz ransomed for 2,987 and 87 gulden respectively. The Uhrturm dates to the 1560s and still shows the long hand for the hour, the short for the minute, the way it did when only the hour mattered. Red roofs run downhill from its foot.

— the visit

The Schlossbergbahn funicular has run since 1894, climbing the south face from Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai in under two minutes. The Kriegssteig stair, 260 steps cut in 1918 by Russian prisoners of war, offers the walking route up. The old town is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, and trams ring the inner core. Schloss Eggenberg, four kilometres west, opens its state rooms from April to October. The Kunsthaus Graz, the bulbous 2003 Friendly Alien by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, sits on the west bank of the Mur.

— where
Austria · Graz, Styria
— elevation
353 m · 1,158 ft
— position
47.0707° N · 15.4395° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
4 km W
Schloss Eggenberg
Baroque palace
1 km W
Kunsthaus Graz
contemporary art museum
1 km W
Murinsel
floating platform
6 km NE
Mariatrost Basilica
Baroque pilgrimage church
N
Graz
Schloss Eggenberg
Kunsthaus Graz
Murinsel
Mariatrost Basilica
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Graz — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The Uhrturm's long hand shows the hour, the short hand the minutes. The clock was built in the 1560s, when only the hour was tracked; the minute hand was added in 1712 and kept the smaller form.

Napoleon required its demolition in the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn after the Austrian defeat at Wagram. The citizens of Graz paid 2,987 gulden to spare the clock tower and 87 to spare the bell.

Yes. The historic old town was inscribed in 1999 for its layered medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque urbanism. Schloss Eggenberg, the seventeenth-century palace on the western edge, was added as an extension in 2010.

A floating steel-and-glass platform in the middle of the Mur, designed by Vito Acconci and opened in 2003 when Graz held the European Capital of Culture title. It contains a café, a small amphitheatre, and a footbridge.

About 290,000 residents within the city, roughly 650,000 in the wider metropolitan area. It is Austria's second-largest city, well behind Vienna but ahead of Linz and Salzburg in population.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. The Schlossberg silhouette is the city's signature, recognised by anyone who has studied at the university or lived through a summer on Hauptplatz. A Small or Medium with a studio note travels well.

The piece carries the red-tile warmth of the old town against the green of the Schlossberg. It sits well in European-traditional, Warm-modern, and Library interiors with oak, brass, and oxblood textiles.

Yes. Beyond Vienna and Prague, second cities like Graz, Brno, and Ljubljana have moved up in the last several years as travellers and gift-buyers look past the obvious capitals.

A single Large reads well above a standard sofa. For longer walls, a 4-tile Mural opens the skyline horizontally; a 9-tile Mural carries the full Schlossberg-to-river view across an open wall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The colour is fully infused into the ceramic surface and the finish resists steam, splashes, and routine cleaning.

A soft microfibre cloth and water handles routine dust. For stubborn marks, a drop of mild dish soap on the cloth. No abrasive pads or ammonia-based sprays.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is drawn by the studio's eye in Knoxville, Tennessee, and produced in-house. The image is not licensed from stock and the tile is finished under our roof.

— if this one stayed with you

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