Wender·Vista
St. Mary's Church
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileGermany
in Lübeck, above the old Hanseatic town

St. Mary's Church

— — the brick vault the Baltic learned from.

— 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

“St. Mary's Church in Lübeck, the Marienkirche, sits at the top of the old island town, between the Rathaus and the Markt. It was built by the merchant council of a Hanseatic city that wanted a church to match its trade, and the result is the tallest brick vault ever built, just under 39 metres above the nave. The two towers carry green copper spires that show up from every approach across the Trave. Two bells lie shattered on the floor of the south tower where they fell during the air raid on Palm Sunday 1942. They have been left there.

from the studio
St. Mary's Church
— bring it home

St. Mary's Church, 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 St. Mary's Church

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 Marienkirche, or St. Mary's, is the principal church of Lübeck, in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. Built between roughly 1265 and 1352 by the city's merchant council as a counterweight to the bishop's cathedral, it stands at the high point of the old island town between the Rathaus and the Markt. The interior is the tallest brick vault in the world, just under 39 metres above the nave, and the church became the model for some seventy Brick Gothic churches around the Baltic.

— the stone

The building is North German Brick Gothic at its full ambition: a basilica plan, a triforium, and an ambulatory, all in red and dark-glazed brick rather than the stone the form was originally drawn for. The two west towers reach 125 metres and the green copper spires are visible from across the Trave. The Astronomical Clock in the south ambulatory was rebuilt in 1960-67 after the original 1561 clock was destroyed; the figures still emerge at noon.

— the year

On the night of 28-29 March 1942, Palm Sunday, RAF Bomber Command struck the old town in the first area-bombing of a German city. The Marienkirche burned for hours and the south tower bells fell through the floor. The church was rebuilt over twenty-eight years, completed in 1959, but the two shattered bells were left where they landed as a memorial. The medieval Totentanz cycle, painted around 1463, did not survive; a 1956 cycle by Alfred Mahlau replaces it in the Briefkapelle.

— where
Germany · Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein
— position
53.8693° N · 10.6849° 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.
0.1 km E
Lübeck Rathaus
town hall
0.5 km W
Holstentor
city gate
0.7 km S
Lübeck Cathedral
cathedral
N
St. Mary's Church
Lübeck Rathaus
Holstentor
Lübeck Cathedral
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about St. Mary's Church — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

In Lübeck, in Schleswig-Holstein on the Baltic coast. The church sits at the high point of the old island town, between the Rathaus and the Markt, about an hour north of Hamburg by train.

It holds the tallest brick vault in the world, just under 39 metres, and was the model for roughly seventy Brick Gothic churches around the Baltic. The old town of Lübeck around it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Between about 1265 and 1352, by the merchant council of the Hanseatic city as a counterweight to the bishop's Lübeck Cathedral. The west towers reach 125 metres and carry the green copper spires visible across the Trave.

They fell through the south tower when the church burned during the RAF raid of 28-29 March 1942, Palm Sunday. The bells were left where they landed and the chapel around them serves as a memorial to the bombing.

Yes. Dieterich Buxtehude served as organist at the Marienkirche from 1668 until his death in 1707. The young Bach walked from Arnstadt to hear him in 1705 and stayed three months instead of the four weeks he had been granted.

The medieval Dance of Death cycle, painted around 1463 in the Beichtkapelle, was destroyed in the 1942 fire. A new cycle by Alfred Mahlau was installed in 1956 in the adjacent Briefkapelle.

— about the piece in your home

Often the right piece. Lübeckers recognise the silhouette of the towers immediately, and readers of Thomas Mann or Buxtehude carry their own attachment to the church. A Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The deep reds, green-copper accents, and brick warmth sit well with Northern European modern, Scandi-modern, and quiet heritage rooms. It holds against oak floors, white walls, and aged brass.

It reads as Northern Gothic modern, a quieter alternative to the warmer Mediterranean palette. It also works in study and library interiors that lean on a single tall architectural image.

A single Large over a console, a four-tile Mural over a standard sofa, and a nine-tile Mural over a long sectional or a dining sideboard. The vertical proportion suits a tall narrow wall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so steam and splash do not lift it.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. No abrasive pads, no solvents. The thin glossy finish lifts fingerprints with one pass.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in-house, in our stained-glass and alcohol-ink language, and made on our own ceramic line. Nothing is licensed in.

— if this one stayed with you

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