Wender·Vista
Serapeum of Alexandria
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileEgypt
on a hill above old Alexandria

Serapeum of Alexandria

— — the column the city kept standing.

— 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

“What's left above ground is mostly the column: red Aswan granite, twenty-six metres of it, the last great marker of a temple that once held a daughter library of the Great Library. The sphinxes are still there, set lower than they used to be. Around them, the city has grown and grown. The hill of Rhakotis remembers what was built on it.

from the studio
Serapeum of Alexandria
— bring it home

Serapeum of Alexandria, 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 Serapeum of Alexandria

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

The Serapeum sat on Rhakotis, the original Egyptian quarter of Alexandria, founded under Ptolemy III in the late third century BC to house the cult of Serapis, the syncretic god the early Ptolemies built to bridge Greek and Egyptian worship. Strabo described it in the first century BC. The temple complex was destroyed in 391, after an edict of Theodosius I closed pagan sites across the empire. What survives above ground today is Diocletian's column and two granite sphinxes, in the Karmouz district of modern Alexandria.

— the stone

The standing column is cut from a single shaft of red Aswan granite, twenty-six point eighty-five metres tall, raised in 298 or 302 to honour Diocletian after he put down a revolt in Alexandria. Crusaders later misattributed it to Pompey, and the wrong name stuck. The base sits on older pharaonic blocks reused from earlier temples upriver. Two granite sphinxes, also reused, flank the column. The shaft alone weighs near two hundred and eighty-five tonnes, quarried six hundred miles south and floated down the Nile.

— the year

The temple began under Ptolemy III around 246 BC and was rebuilt grander under Ptolemy IV. For six centuries it was one of the principal libraries and cult centres of the Mediterranean world. In 391 a Christian crowd, led by Patriarch Theophilus and emboldened by Theodosius's anti-pagan edict, broke into the precinct and pulled down the cult statue of Serapis. The library annex burned with it. Diocletian's column went up barely ninety years before the destruction, and now outlives everything around it by sixteen hundred years.

— where
Egypt · Karmouz, Alexandria
— elevation
30 m · 98 ft
— position
31.1822° N · 29.8959° 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.
1 km W
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Roman necropolis
5 km NE
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
modern library
4 km N
Citadel of Qaitbay
Mamluk fortress
N
Serapeum of Alexandria
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Citadel of Qaitbay
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Serapeum of Alexandria — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

A temple complex on the Rhakotis hill in Alexandria, founded in the third century BC under the Ptolemies for the cult of Serapis. It once held a daughter library tied to the Great Library.

Diocletian's Column, a single shaft of red Aswan granite about twenty-seven metres tall, flanked by two reused granite sphinxes. Underground galleries and the cult niches survive below the modern street.

Crusader-era visitors misidentified the column as a memorial to the Roman general Pompey, and the name stuck in European writing. The Greek inscription on the base actually dedicates it to Diocletian, around 298.

In 391, after Emperor Theodosius I's edict against pagan worship. A crowd led by Patriarch Theophilus broke into the precinct, pulled down the cult statue, and the library annex was lost soon after.

In the Karmouz district of central Alexandria, on the old Rhakotis hill. The archaeological enclosure sits inside the modern city and is open to visitors as Amud el-Sawari, the Column of the Pillars.

A Hellenistic god created under the early Ptolemies, blending Osiris and Apis with Greek attributes of Zeus and Hades. The cult was meant to bind Greek and Egyptian communities in Alexandria under one figure.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well as a gift for readers of late-antique history, classicists, and anyone with family roots in Alexandria. The Small or Medium suits a study shelf; a handwritten studio note travels with each piece.

The deep granites and stained-glass blues sit naturally in Old World Library, Warm Classical, and Jewel-tone Maximalist rooms. It also holds its own against quiet plaster walls in a Mediterranean Modern interior.

Warm Classical and Old World Library have both come forward in 2025-2026 interiors writing. The piece reads as collected rather than decorated, which is where that movement is going.

A single Large above a console; a four-tile Mural above a standard sofa; a nine-tile Mural for a sectional or a long library wall. Each tile is hand-finished in-house.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and suit backsplashes, showers, and powder rooms. Reserve the Glossy finish for framed wall pieces in dryer rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and plain water. No abrasive pads, no bleach, no scouring powder. The colour lives in the ceramic surface, beneath a thin protective finish, and does not lift with regular wiping.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the studio, curated by Reid Wender, hand-finished in Knoxville, Tennessee. We do not license outside artwork into the line.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.