Wender·Vista
Temple of Saturn
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileItaly
at the western end of the Roman Forum, below the Capitoline Hill

Temple of Saturn

— — eight columns, and the city behind them.

— 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

“Eight Ionic granite columns at the western edge of the Roman Forum, all that stands above ground of the temple first dedicated to the god Saturn near the opening of the Republic. The current podium and what remains of the entablature date from a late fourth-century restoration. From the Via Sacra below the Capitoline, the columns hold the western horizon of the Forum the way the Forum holds the city.

from the studio
Temple of Saturn
— bring it home

Temple of Saturn, 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 Temple of Saturn

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 Temple of Saturn stands at the western end of the Roman Forum in Rome, below the Capitoline Hill, at the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus. Tradition dates its first dedication to 497 BC, in the early years of the Republic. The current surviving structure, a high tufa-and-travertine podium and eight grey and pink granite columns of the front and side colonnades, belongs to a restoration after a fire in the late fourth century AD, with the dedicatory inscription preserved on the architrave.

— the stone

The eight surviving columns are granite, shipped from Egypt and Asia Minor (six of the front colonnade in grey Aswan granite, two on the sides in pink) and re-used in the late-antique restoration after the fire. Their Ionic capitals are unmatched and were cut to fit on site, which historians of the late Empire have read as evidence of haste and salvaged work. The travertine podium beneath them held the public treasury of the Roman state, the Aerarium Saturni, for most of the Republic's history.

— informed by Wikipedia — Aerarium
— the visit

The temple is inside the fenced Forum archaeological zone, accessed from the Via dei Fori Imperiali or from the Palatine ticket gate. A single combined ticket covers the Forum, the Palatine, and the Colosseum and is valid for twenty-four hours. The columns are visible from outside the fence along the Clivus Capitolinus, which makes for a quieter free view. The Forum opens daily at 9:00 and last entry runs about an hour before sunset, which shifts through the year.

— where
Italy · Rome, Lazio
— within
Parco archeologico del Colosseo
— position
41.8924° N · 12.4843° 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.
at the lake
Capitoline Hill
hill of Rome
at the lake
Arch of Septimius Severus
triumphal arch
at the lake
Palatine Hill
hill of Rome
1 km E
Colosseum
Flavian amphitheatre
N
Temple of Saturn
Capitoline Hill
Arch of Septimius Severus
Palatine Hill
Colosseum
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Temple of Saturn — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

At the western end of the Roman Forum in Rome, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill on the Clivus Capitolinus, inside the Parco archeologico del Colosseo and reached from the Via dei Fori Imperiali entrance.

Tradition dates the first dedication to 497 BC, near the beginning of the Roman Republic. The visible surviving structure dates to a late fourth-century AD restoration following a fire.

The eight Ionic granite columns are what survived the collapse of the entablature and the spoliation of the medieval period. The rest of the temple, including the cella and roof, were lost over centuries.

The Aerarium was the public treasury of the Roman state, held in the podium of the temple under the protection of Saturn through most of the Republic and into the early Imperial period.

No. The surviving structure is the podium and the column front; there is no enclosed interior to enter. The temple is viewed from the Via Sacra and the Clivus Capitolinus within the Forum.

— about the piece in your home

A common choice for people with ties to the city or who studied classics. A Medium or Large carries the late-afternoon Forum light home; a Coaster Set reads as a quieter gift with a handwritten note from the studio.

The travertine pale, granite grey, and gold of the columns suit warm minimalist interiors, Italianate maximalist rooms with marble and brass, and stone-and-linen palettes drawn from the Mediterranean.

A single Large at 24 by 36 inches anchors a standard sofa wall. A 4-tile Mural widens the colonnade; a 9-tile Mural reads as a window onto the Forum in the long evening light.

Yes. Choose Dura Satin or Matte for kitchens and bathrooms. Both are scratch-resistant and handle steam and splash without altering the colour in the ceramic surface.

A soft microfibre cloth with clean water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and stays in the surface under normal cleaning.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.
— a collection

The Italian Dolomites,
painted slow.

The valleys between Cortina and Val Gardena, the tarns you walk an hour to see, the towers that turn the colour of a banked fire just before dark. Wander the collection by valley, by season, or follow the path Reid walked.

Tre Cime
Braies
Misurina
Sorapis
Cinque Torri
Sassolungo
Marmolada