Wender·Vista
Patna
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndia
on the south bank of the Ganges, Bihar

Patna

— a city older than its empires.

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

On the south bank of the Ganges where four rivers meet, where Chandragupta held court and the boy Guru Gobind Singh was born. Pataliputra became Patna became this city of more than two million, with the beehive curve of the Golghar above the riverbank and the marble dome of Takht Sri Patna Sahib in the old town. The river runs wide here, brown and slow toward the sea.

from the studio
Patna
— bring it home

Patna, 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 Patna

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

Patna is the capital of Bihar and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the subcontinent. It sits on the south bank of the Ganges in north-east India, near the confluences with the Son, the Gandak, and the Punpun. Ajatashatru of Magadha founded a fort here called Pataligrama in roughly 490 BCE; under Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka it became Pataliputra, the seat of an empire that stretched from Bengal to the Hindu Kush. About 2.5 million people live in the present city.

the stone

The Golghar, a thirty-metre beehive of stone above the riverbank, was completed in 1786 by Captain John Garstin of the East India Company as a famine granary after the 1770 catastrophe in Bengal. It was never filled. A pair of staircases winds opposite ways up its outer skin so porters climbing with grain would not collide with porters descending empty. A short distance east, the white marble dome of Takht Sri Patna Sahib marks the 1666 birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.

the visit

Most visitors arrive at Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport, ten kilometres west of the centre, or by the New Delhi-Howrah trunk line at Patna Junction. The Golghar is open dawn to dusk with a small entry fee and an outdoor climb in any weather. Takht Sri Patna Sahib welcomes pilgrims and visitors at all hours; heads must be covered and shoes left at the gate. October through February, after the monsoon withdraws, is the dry season when the Ganges runs lowest and the air clears.

— informed by Wikipedia — Patna
where
India · Patna, Bihar
elevation
53 m · 174 ft
position
25.5941° N · 85.1376° 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.
95 km SE
Nalanda
ancient university
115 km S
Bodh Gaya
Buddhist pilgrimage site
55 km N
Vaishali
ancient site
100 km SE
Rajgir
ancient capital
N
Patna
Nalanda
Bodh Gaya
Vaishali
Rajgir
common questions

What people ask.

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

Patna is the capital of Bihar in north-east India, on the south bank of the Ganges near its confluences with the Son, Gandak, and Punpun rivers. It is about 600 kilometres east of New Delhi.

Patna was known as Pataliputra from roughly the fourth century BCE, when Chandragupta Maurya made it the capital of his empire. Ashoka ruled from here. An earlier fort on the site was called Pataligrama.

The Golghar is a thirty-metre beehive-shaped granary above the Ganges, completed in 1786 by Captain John Garstin of the East India Company after the 1770 Bengal famine. It was built to store grain and was never filled.

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, was born in Patna in 1666. Takht Sri Patna Sahib, the white marble gurdwara marking his birthplace, is one of the five Takhts, the seats of Sikh temporal authority.

October through February is the cool dry season, after the monsoon withdraws and before the summer heat returns. Prakash Utsav, the celebration of Guru Gobind Singh's birth, falls in late December or early January.

The city proper holds about 2.5 million people and the wider Patna metropolitan area passes 2.8 million, making it among the largest cities in the eastern Gangetic plain. Bihar's population overall exceeds 100 million.

about the piece in your home

We have sent the Patna tile to customers with family in the city and to Sikhs honouring Guru Gobind Singh's birthplace. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well as a Prakash Utsav gift.

The river-brown, marble-white, and Mughal-jewel palette reads well against warm Indian-modern interiors, jewel-tone maximalism, and quieter Indo-Portuguese rooms. It also anchors a plain ivory wall in a study or entryway.

A single Large is the usual answer above a sofa or long console. A four-tile Mural lets the Ganges spread wide; a nine-tile Mural carries a great-room wall or a stairwell landing.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish for backsplash, shower, or any humid wall. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and does not lift with steam or splash.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water are enough. Skip abrasive pads and bleach-based sprays, which dull the finish over time. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

Yes. Every WenderVista place is painted in our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing, no stock art. Reid Wender curates the atlas and chooses every place that enters it.

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