shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIran

on the Khuzestan plain southeast of Susa

Chogha Zanbil

Name: Chogha Zanbil — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — a god's stair the desert kept.

— 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

“A mud-brick ziggurat on the Khuzestan plain, raised by the Elamite king Untash-Napirisha around 1250 BCE for the god Inshushinak. The largest surviving ziggurat outside Mesopotamia, it once stood five tiers high; what remains today is the lower mass, about twenty-five metres of cracked baked brick, the cuneiform inscriptions still legible on the bricks of the outer wall. From the studio.

from the studio

— bring it home

Chogha Zanbil, 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 Chogha Zanbil

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

Chogha Zanbil lies in Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran, about forty kilometres southeast of Susa and a hundred and twenty kilometres north of the Persian Gulf. The complex was founded around 1250 BCE by the Middle Elamite king Untash-Napirisha as the royal religious city of Dur-Untash, abandoned after the Assyrian sack of Elam around 640 BCE. It became Iran's first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, recognised as the best preserved Elamite monument and one of the few surviving ziggurats outside Mesopotamia.

— informed by UNESCO · Tchogha Zanbil

— the stone

The ziggurat was built of a mud-brick core sheathed in baked brick, originally rising in five stepped tiers to about fifty-two metres; the surviving mass stands about twenty-five metres. Cuneiform inscriptions in Elamite name Untash-Napirisha and dedicate the temple to Inshushinak, patron deity of Susa. Three concentric walls enclose temples to other gods, royal palaces with vaulted brick tombs beneath, and a water reservoir fed by a baked-brick channel running from the Karkheh River some forty-five kilometres upstream.

— informed by Wikipedia · Chogha Zanbil

— the visit

The site is reached by road from Ahvaz (about ninety minutes) or Shushtar (about an hour). It is open daily from sunrise to sunset, with a small visitor centre and a posted interpretation trail that loops the outer wall. Summers in Khuzestan run past fifty degrees Celsius; most visitors come between November and March. Susa, with its French excavations and the tomb of Daniel, and the Shushtar Hydraulic System, both UNESCO sites, sit within a day's drive on the same route.

— informed by UNESCO · Tchogha Zanbil

— where

Iran · Khuzestan Province

— within

Chogha Zanbil (UNESCO)

— position

32.0083° N · 48.5208° 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.

40 km NW

Susa archaeological site

ancient Elamite and Persian capital

70 km N

Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System

UNESCO water-engineering site

8 km W

Karkheh River

river

20 km NW

Haft Tepe

Elamite tell and museum

Chogha Zanbil

Susa archaeological site

Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System

Karkheh River

Haft Tepe

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Chogha Zanbil — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

The complex was built around 1250 BCE by the Elamite king Untash-Napirisha, roughly 3,300 years ago. It was abandoned after Ashurbanipal's Assyrian sack of Elam around 640 BCE and lay buried by sand until the 1930s.

It is the largest surviving ziggurat outside Mesopotamia and the best preserved of any. The mud-brick core stands about twenty-five metres today, with original baked-brick facing intact across much of the lower terrace.

The mound was identified in 1935 by a geologist prospecting for oil. Roman Ghirshman led French excavations from 1951 to 1962, clearing the ziggurat and the surrounding sacred precinct, palaces, and tombs.

The modern name is local Bakhtiari for basket mound, after the shape of the buried ruin. The ancient Elamite name was Dur-Untash, the city of Untash, after its founder Untash-Napirisha.

Yes. Chogha Zanbil was inscribed in 1979 as Iran's first World Heritage Site, alongside Persepolis and Meidan Emam in Isfahan that same year. The Elamite ziggurat is the oldest of the three by more than seven centuries.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Chogha Zanbil carries weight for archaeologists, Iranian families with Khuzestan roots, and travellers who reached it before sanctions tightened. A Medium with a studio note settles into a study or library wall.

The sand and ochre palette with stained-glass blues sits well with Earthy Modern, Mediterranean, and Library-Maximalist rooms. It pairs with dark leather, brass, and old paper.

Yes. Library-maximalism, book-lined rooms anchored by a single archaeological piece, has held through several decoration cycles. A Medium above a reading chair lands without fuss.

A single Large covers most sofas. For a long wall, the 4-tile Mural reads as one composition, and the 9-tile Mural anchors a great-room above a console.

Yes, ordered in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes are scratch-resistant and steam-tolerant for backsplashes, shower walls, and powder rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. No abrasive pads or solvents. The colour lives in the surface beneath a thin protective layer.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated by Reid Wender at the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Nothing is licensed in or sold through third parties.

— if this one stayed with you