Wender·Vista
Bhopal
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndia
in central India, capital of Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal

— — the city the lakes hold.

— 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

“Bhopal sits on two lakes the city has shaped its days around for nearly a thousand years. The Upper Lake, locally called Bhojtal, was dammed by Raja Bhoj in the eleventh century and still holds the city's drinking water. Above the old quarters rise the white minarets of Taj-ul-Masajid, one of the largest mosques in Asia. The light here belongs to the water. from the studio

from the studio
Bhopal
— bring it home

Bhopal, 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 Bhopal

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

Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, set on a sequence of artificial and natural lakes in the centre of India. The Upper Lake, locally called Bhojtal, was created in the 11th century during the reign of Raja Bhoj of the Paramara dynasty, and remains the city's primary source of drinking water. The lower city was built around it from the early 18th century by the Afghan Nawabs and the four Begums who ruled into the 20th. The city sits at about 500 metres elevation, on the Malwa Plateau.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the water

Two lakes define the centre of Bhopal: the Upper Lake (Bhojtal), about 31 square kilometres, and the Lower Lake (Chhota Talab), separated by the Pul Pukhta causeway built in the 18th century. The Upper Lake is a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, listed in 2002, and supplies roughly forty percent of the city's drinking water. The Boat Club along its eastern shore has become the place locals walk in the evening, when the sun sits low behind the VIP Road and the water turns the colour of weak tea.

— the stone

Taj-ul-Masajid, on the northern edge of the old city, was begun in the 1870s under Shah Jahan Begum, the third of the four Begums of Bhopal, and was not completed until 1985. Its courtyard is one of the largest of any mosque in the Indian subcontinent, with a pink-sandstone facade and two octagonal minarets rising about 65 metres above the city. A short walk south, the older Moti Masjid was built in 1860 by Sikander Begum, modelled on the Jama Masjid in Delhi at a smaller scale.

— informed by Wikipedia
— where
India · Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
— elevation
500 m · 1,640 ft
— position
23.2599° N · 77.4126° 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.
45 km S
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters
prehistoric cave-art site
46 km NE
Sanchi Stupa
Buddhist monument
28 km SE
Bhojpur Temple
11th-century Shiva temple
3 km S
Van Vihar National Park
urban national park
N
Bhopal
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters
Sanchi Stupa
Bhojpur Temple
Van Vihar National Park
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The historic centre is built around two adjoining lakes — the 11th-century Upper Lake (Bhojtal) and the smaller Lower Lake — with several smaller waterbodies in the wider city. The Upper Lake supplies most of Bhopal's drinking water.

The Upper Lake and the original settlement are credited to Raja Bhoj of the Paramara dynasty in the 11th century. The walled city that survives today was laid out in 1707 by Dost Mohammad Khan, an Afghan soldier of the late Mughal court.

A late 19th-century mosque on the north side of old Bhopal, begun by Shah Jahan Begum and completed in 1985. Its courtyard is among the largest of any mosque on the Indian subcontinent.

In central India, capital of Madhya Pradesh state, on the Malwa Plateau at about 500 metres elevation. It lies roughly halfway between Delhi and Mumbai by rail, about 740 kilometres south of Delhi.

Four successive women — Qudsia, Sikander, Shah Jahan, and Sultan Jahan — who ruled the princely state of Bhopal from 1819 to 1926. Their patronage shaped much of the surviving old-city architecture.

Yes. The Bhimbetka rock shelters, a UNESCO World Heritage site with cave paintings dated to roughly 30,000 years ago, lie about 45 kilometres south of the city in the Raisen district.

— about the piece in your home

It has worked well for customers from Madhya Pradesh and the wider Bhopal diaspora. The lakes and the minarets are the images that travel with people who left. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note carries well.

The blues of the lakes and the warm sandstone of the mosque sit well with Indo-modern, jewel-tone maximalist, and warm minimalist rooms. The piece reads as a centred focal point rather than a quiet accent.

Yes. The cool lake blues against the sandstone warm tones place it comfortably in the jewel-tone and Indo-modern conversations that have stayed strong through the 2020s.

A single Large reads well above a console or narrow sofa. Above a full three-seater, a 4-tile Mural is the usual choice, with a 9-tile Mural for a long wall that needs presence.

Yes. Order the same image in the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any wet wall — backsplash, shower surround, powder room. The colour lives in the ceramic surface and is unaffected by humidity.

A soft microfibre cloth, dry or with plain water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and sits beneath a thin glossy finish, so household cleaners are not needed.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, in our stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language. No licensing, no stock imagery, no second studio.

— if this one stayed with you

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