shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndia

above the Tungabhadra at Hampi, in northern Karnataka

Virupaksha Temple

Name: Virupaksha Temple — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — the temple the empire outlived.

— 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

— 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

“The temple at Hampi that never stopped working. Around it the Vijayanagara Empire rose, ruled half the subcontinent for two centuries, and fell to a single battle in 1565; the ruined city is now a UNESCO site of a thousand pavilions. Through all of it Virupaksha kept burning lamps for Shiva. The eastern gopuram is fifty metres tall and visible from the riverbank below.

from the studio

— bring it home

Virupaksha Temple, 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 Virupaksha Temple

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

Virupaksha is the principal temple of Hampi, a village on the south bank of the Tungabhadra River in Vijayanagara district, Karnataka. Worship at the site is documented from at least the 7th century, predating the Vijayanagara Empire by six hundred years. The empire's capital grew up around it from 1336 onward, and Virupaksha became its tutelary shrine. Hampi was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986; Virupaksha, alone among the temples of the ruined city, has held continuous active worship across the centuries.

— informed by Wikipedia, UNESCO

— the stone

The temple is built from local granite, the same stone that forms the boulder-strewn landscape around Hampi. The eastern gopuram, the main entrance tower, rises about 50 metres in nine tapering tiers, raised under the patronage of Krishnadevaraya in the early 1500s. Inside the inner courtyard a small pinhole in the gopuram wall casts an inverted image of the tower across the opposite stonework, a sixteenth-century camera obscura still working in the heat. The mandapa columns carry friezes of horses, of dancers, of the river goddess Pampa, paired consort of the resident Shiva.

— informed by Archaeological Survey of India

— the year

Three festivals draw pilgrims from across South India. Maha Shivaratri, in February or March, fills the temple through the night and into the river. The chariot festival in late March or early April pulls the wooden ratha around the bazaar street that runs east from the gopuram. The wedding-of-the-gods ceremony in December marks the marriage of Pampa to Virupaksha and draws several thousand devotees. Outside festival weeks the temple opens at six in the morning, closes for the midday heat, and reopens through evening lamp-lighting.

— informed by Karnataka Tourism

— where

India · Hampi, Vijayanagara district, Karnataka

— position

15.3350° N · 76.4600° 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.

2 km NE

Vittala Temple

Vijayanagara temple

0.5 km S

Hemakuta Hill Temples

temple complex

0.1 km N

Tungabhadra River

river

Virupaksha Temple

Vittala Temple

Hemakuta Hill Temples

Tungabhadra River

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Virupaksha Temple — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

Worship on the site dates to at least the 7th century, predating the Vijayanagara Empire by roughly six centuries. The current gopuram and mandapa structures were enlarged under Krishnadevaraya in the early 1500s.

It is the only temple in the Hampi UNESCO complex that has maintained continuous active worship since before the Vijayanagara Empire founded the city in 1336. The other temples in the ruins were abandoned after the 1565 sack.

Virupaksha is a regional form of Shiva, worshipped here alongside his consort Pampa, the goddess of the Tungabhadra River. The river's older name, Pampa, gives Hampi its name.

A small aperture in the inner wall of the eastern gopuram casts an inverted shadow image of the tower onto the opposite wall throughout the day, a working pinhole camera built into the temple architecture in the sixteenth century.

Hospet, the nearest railhead, lies about thirteen kilometres west and connects to Bengaluru by overnight train. From Hospet, autorickshaws and buses run to Hampi Bazaar, where the temple sits at the eastern end of the main street.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well to anyone who has stood in the gopuram shadow or walked the Hampi boulders. A Medium or Large with a handwritten note from the studio is a steady choice.

The granite ochre, river green, and lamp gold sit cleanly in Indo-modern, warm Mediterranean, and Earth-tone Maximalist rooms. The piece holds against teak, terracotta, and unbleached linen.

Yes. The current Indian-design movement toward Karnataka stone, brass, and unbleached weave reads directly with this palette. The piece functions as anchor art rather than ornament.

A single Large reads at twenty-four inches across; a four-tile Mural at thirty-six; a nine-tile Mural at fifty-four. The four-tile Mural is the standard above a three-seat sofa.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and engineered for vertical installation in wet rooms. Glossy is reserved for dry walls and framed display.

A soft microfibre cloth with water. No abrasive pads, no ammonia. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so it will not lift with normal cleaning.

Yes. The Hampi piece, like every WenderVista vista, comes from a single studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing and no third-party art.

— if this one stayed with you