Wender·Vista
Mount Scopus
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIsrael
northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem

Mount Scopus

— — the hill the watchers used.

— 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

“The hill that looks down on Jerusalem from the northeast. Greek geographers called it Scopus, the lookout, and the name held: Roman legions camped here, Crusaders staged from it, and the Hebrew University laid its first stone on the ridge in 1918. From the slope the Old City reads as a single small thing, walled and warm.

from the studio
Mount Scopus
— bring it home

Mount Scopus, 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 Scopus

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

Mount Scopus rises about 826 metres above sea level on the northeast edge of Jerusalem, separated from the Mount of Olives by a low saddle and looking down on the walled Old City from a distance of roughly two kilometres. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened its first campus here in 1925 with a ceremony attended by Lord Balfour and Chaim Weizmann. Hadassah Hospital joined the ridge soon after. The hill takes its Greek name from skopos, the watcher.

— the air

The ridge sits high enough above the city that the wind off the Judean desert reaches it before it reaches the Old City below. From the western slope the eye crosses the Kidron Valley and lands on the Temple Mount and the gold of the Dome of the Rock about two kilometres away. The view has been used as a vantage point by every army that ever wanted Jerusalem, from Titus's Tenth Legion in 70 CE to the British in 1917.

— the visit

The Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is open to visitors on weekdays, with the Nancy Reagan Plaza and the amphitheatre offering the broadest view back toward the Old City. The botanical garden on the slope holds plants native to the biblical landscape. Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital remains a working hospital on the ridge. Egged bus lines from the city centre reach the campus in under twenty minutes, and the Light Rail Red Line stops at the campus gate.

— where
Israel · Jerusalem
— elevation
826 m · 2,710 ft
— position
31.7942° N · 35.2436° 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 SW
Mount of Olives
ridge
2 km SW
Old City of Jerusalem
walled city
at the lake
Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital
hospital
N
Mount Scopus
Mount of Olives
Old City of Jerusalem
Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The name comes from the Greek skopos, meaning watcher or lookout. The ridge has served as a vantage point over Jerusalem since Roman times, when Titus's Tenth Legion camped here before the siege of 70 CE.

The original campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, founded in 1918 and dedicated in 1925, along with Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, a botanical garden of biblical-land plants, and a British military cemetery from the First World War.

About 826 metres above sea level, roughly fifty metres higher than the Old City of Jerusalem two kilometres to its southwest. It is part of the same limestone ridge as the Mount of Olives.

It was an Israeli enclave inside Jordanian-held East Jerusalem from 1948 until the Six-Day War in 1967. The Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital sites were maintained by a small rotating Israeli staff under UN convoy.

Yes. From the western slope and the Hebrew University amphitheatre the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock are clearly visible across the Kidron Valley, roughly two kilometres away.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for many of our customers with family or study connections to the city. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well to a graduate of the Hebrew University.

The warm limestone palette and the gold of the Dome read into Mediterranean, warm-modern, and library-study settings. It pairs naturally with walnut shelving, brass fittings, and rooms that already hold one or two pieces of Levantine craft.

A single Large reads cleanly above a console; above a sofa a 4-tile Mural carries the wall, and a 9-tile Mural becomes the room's anchor. The Medium suits a study or a hallway between two doorways.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and made for vertical installations like backsplashes and shower walls. The Glossy finish is best reserved for framed wall display in dry rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water are all that is needed. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it will not lift, fade, or scratch with ordinary cleaning.

— if this one stayed with you

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