Wender·Vista
Zócalo
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileMexico
in the centre of Mexico City

Zócalo

— — the square the city keeps coming back to.

— 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

“Plaza de la Constitución at the centre of Mexico City. The Cathedral on one side, the National Palace on another, the ruined corner of the Templo Mayor a block to the northeast. A military detail raises an enormous tricolour at six in the morning and lowers it at six in the evening. Most evenings the flagstones hold the day's heat well into the night.

from the studio
Zócalo
— bring it home

Zócalo, 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 Zócalo

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 Plaza de la Constitución, known to Mexicans as the Zócalo, sits at 2,240 metres in the historic centre of Mexico City. The square covers roughly 57,600 square metres, among the largest civic plazas in the world and the largest in the Americas. The Catedral Metropolitana closes the north side, the Palacio Nacional the east, and the excavated corner of the Templo Mayor stands one block northeast. The ground beneath the flagstones is the ceremonial heart of Tenochtitlán, the Mexica capital Spanish forces took in 1521.

— the stone

The Catedral Metropolitana rose in stages between 1573 and 1813, built largely from tezontle, the porous red volcanic stone quarried in the Valley of Mexico, with limestone facing on its facades. Across the square, the Palacio Nacional incorporates stone from Moctezuma II's palace; Diego Rivera painted his Epic of the Mexican People along its central stairway between 1929 and 1951. Both buildings sit on the soft lakebed of the former Lake Texcoco and have settled measurably over the centuries.

— the year

A military detail raises a large national flag at six in the morning and lowers it at six in the evening, every day. On the night of September 15, the President steps onto the central balcony of the Palacio Nacional and rings the bell carried from Dolores Hidalgo, repeating the Grito that opened the war of independence in 1810. On the first Saturday of November, the Day of the Dead parade ends its route at the square.

— where
Mexico · Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City
— elevation
2,240 m · 7,349 ft
— position
19.4326° N · 99.1332° W
— 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.
0.2 km NE
Templo Mayor
Mexica archaeological site
0.1 km N
Catedral Metropolitana
cathedral
0.1 km E
Palacio Nacional
government palace
1 km W
Palacio de Bellas Artes
concert hall
N
Zócalo
Templo Mayor
Catedral Metropolitana
Palacio Nacional
Palacio de Bellas Artes
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The plaza covers about 57,600 square metres, roughly 240 metres on each side, which places it among the largest urban squares in the world and the largest in the Americas.

The ceremonial centre of Tenochtitlán, the Mexica capital. The Templo Mayor, the main pyramid, stood one block northeast of the present cathedral. Excavations began in earnest in 1978.

A monumental pedestal, a zócalo, was laid for an independence column in 1843. The column was never built, but the name for the base spread to the whole square and stuck.

A military detail raises an oversized national flag at six in the morning and lowers it at six in the evening. Both ceremonies draw small crowds and briefly pause traffic on the square.

The Catedral Metropolitana to the north, the Palacio Nacional to the east, the Federal District government building to the south, and arcaded merchant buildings to the west.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a thoughtful gift for customers with family in the capital. The Zócalo is the place chilangos return to for civic moments and ordinary afternoons. A Small or Medium carries well.

The piece reads well in Mexican-modern, Spanish-colonial, and warm-maximalist rooms. The tezontle reds and cathedral creams sit comfortably against limewashed walls, dark wood, and woven textiles.

A single Large reads from across a room. A 4-tile Mural carries a wider sofa. A 9-tile Mural is the right scale for a long console or a stair landing.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and made for vertical installation in damp rooms. The Glossy finish is intended for framed wall art.

A microfibre cloth and clean water are enough. No solvents, no abrasives. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin protective finish, so light wiping does not affect it.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the studio's own visual language and produced only by Wender Studios in Knoxville, Tennessee. No outside licensing.

— if this one stayed with you

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