shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIsrael

east of Jerusalem, above the Kidron Valley

Mount of Olives

Name: Mount of Olives — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — the ridge that watches the Old City wake.

— 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 limestone ridge east of the Old City, the slope dropping into the Kidron Valley and rising again to the Temple Mount. Olive trees still hold the lower garden at Gethsemane, some of them centuries old. The view at first light catches the Dome of the Rock first, then the city wall, then everything else.

from the studio

— bring it home

Mount of Olives, 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 Mount of Olives

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 Mount of Olives is a limestone ridge east of Jerusalem's Old City, separated from it by the Kidron Valley and rising to roughly 826 metres at its summit. It carries one of the world's oldest continuously used cemeteries, with Jewish burials on the western slope going back more than three thousand years. The lower slope holds the Garden of Gethsemane and several churches: the Church of All Nations, Dominus Flevit, and the gilded onion domes of Saint Mary Magdalene. Access is by road from Mount Scopus or on foot from Lions' Gate.

— informed by Wikipedia, Britannica

— the stone

The ridge is Cenomanian limestone, the same chalky stone the Old City walls are cut from. The colour shifts hour by hour: bone-white at noon, honey at five, rose at the moment before dark. The Russian Orthodox church of Saint Mary Magdalene on the western slope answers the stone with seven gilded onion domes, built in 1888 by Tsar Alexander III in memory of his mother Maria Alexandrovna. From the overlook above the Seven Arches Hotel the whole composition reads as one wall: cemetery, garden, gold, dome.

— informed by Wikipedia · Mary Magdalene Church

— the visit

Most visitors come at sunrise for the view from the overlook beside the Seven Arches Hotel, where the road from Mount Scopus tops the ridge. The Garden of Gethsemane sits at the foot of the slope and is open daily; the Church of All Nations beside it is free to enter. The Russian Orthodox Mary Magdalene compound keeps shorter hours, typically Tuesday and Thursday mornings. A walk down the Palm Sunday road links the summit to Lions' Gate in about forty minutes.

— informed by Wikipedia · Garden of Gethsemane

— where

Israel · Jerusalem

— elevation

826 m · 2,710 ft

— position

31.7784° N · 35.2453° 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.

1 km W

Old City of Jerusalem

walled historic city

1 km W

Temple Mount

religious site

0.3 km W

Garden of Gethsemane

olive grove

0.5 km W

Kidron Valley

valley

1 km N

Mount Scopus

ridge

Mount of Olives

Old City of Jerusalem

Temple Mount

Garden of Gethsemane

Kidron Valley

Mount Scopus

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Mount of Olives — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

A limestone ridge east of Jerusalem's Old City, rising to about 826 metres and separated from the city by the Kidron Valley. The lower slope still holds the olive groves that give the ridge its name.

The Hebrew Bible names it as the ridge David fled across and the place from which the Messiah would come (Zechariah 14). The Gospels place Jesus there for the Olivet Discourse, the agony at Gethsemane, and the Ascension.

The Jewish cemetery on the western slope has been in continuous use for more than three thousand years and holds an estimated 150,000 graves, making it among the oldest active burial grounds in the world.

The principal ones are the Church of All Nations at Gethsemane, Dominus Flevit, the Pater Noster, the gilded Saint Mary Magdalene of the Russian Orthodox, and the Chapel of the Ascension at the summit.

First light from the overlook beside the Seven Arches Hotel. The Dome of the Rock catches the sun before the rest of the Old City, and the limestone walls warm from white to honey within about twenty minutes.

By road from Mount Scopus to the summit, or on foot down the Palm Sunday road to Lions' Gate in about forty minutes. Taxis from the Old City run regularly.

— about the piece in your home

Many of our customers have given it to family making aliyah, to clergy ordained on the mount, or to anyone for whom the Palm Sunday road carries weight. A Small or Medium with a written note travels well.

The limestone palette and gilded domes sit well in Warm Traditional, Old-World Mediterranean, and Quiet Sacred rooms. The piece anchors a library wall or a console beside an icon shelf.

Yes. The Large and the 4-tile Mural read clearly from across a narthex or fellowship room. We finish each piece on Dura Satin for vertical installations on plaster or brick.

A single Large carries most consoles. A 4-tile Mural reads across a standard sofa, and a 9-tile Mural commands a full feature wall behind a long dining table.

Yes, with Dura Satin or Matte. The colour lives in the ceramic surface and is unaffected by steam or splash, so backsplashes and shower walls work cleanly.

Microfibre cloth and water. No solvents or abrasive cleaners are needed; the thin glossy finish keeps the surface easy to wipe clean.

Yes. Reid Wender paints every place in the WenderVista atlas from the studio in Knoxville; nothing is licensed in from outside artists.

— if this one stayed with you