Wender·Vista
Exhibition of achievements of national economy
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileRussia
in northern Moscow's Ostankinsky District

Exhibition of achievements of national economy

— the empire that built itself a fair.

— 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

“VDNKh is the open-air ledger of a vanished economy. Pavilions for cotton, grain, atomic energy and space, arranged along a broad avenue that ends at a gilded fountain of fifteen women. The Vostok rocket still leans on its gantry near the Cosmos pavilion. People come on foot, with skates in winter, with strollers in summer. — from the studio

from the studio
Exhibition of achievements of national economy
— bring it home

Exhibition of achievements of national economy, 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 Exhibition of achievements of national economy

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

VDNKh sits in northern Moscow's Ostankinsky District, opened on 1 August 1939 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. The grounds cover roughly 325 hectares and hold about 49 heritage buildings among more than 200 pavilions, fountains, and monuments. The main entrance arch, in Stalin-era socialist classicism, frames a kilometre-long axis ending at the Friendship of Peoples Fountain. Vera Mukhina's Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, the 1937 Paris Expo sculpture in stainless steel, stands at the northern edge near the Cosmos Pavilion.

— the stone

The pavilions carry a heavy Stalinist neoclassical idiom, with porticoes, republic-themed friezes, and reliefs in limestone and stucco. The Ukrainian SSR pavilion wears a ceramic crown of wheat; the Uzbek pavilion frames its dome with a Samarkand-style fretwork rotunda. The Central Pavilion of 1954 rises to 97 metres at the spire. Restoration begun in 2014 has stripped later cladding back to original surfaces. The Stone Flower Fountain, opened the same year, is faced in smalt mosaic from the Urals.

— the visit

The grounds are open daily and free to enter; individual pavilions, the Moskvarium aquarium, and the Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre charge separate admission. Moscow Metro stations VDNKh on Line 6 and Vystavochny Tsentr on the monorail open onto the south gate. In winter the central avenue freezes into one of Europe's largest skating rinks at about 20,000 square metres. The Friendship of Peoples Fountain runs from late April to early October. Three hours suits a single loop; longer with the Cosmonautics museum.

— informed by VDNH visitor information
— where
Russia · Ostankinsky District, Moscow
— position
55.8294° N · 37.6325° 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 NW
Ostankino Tower
broadcast tower
2 km W
Ostankino Estate
18th-century palace
1 km N
Moscow Botanical Garden
botanical garden
at the lake
Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre
space museum
N
Exhibition of achievements of national economy
Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Estate
Moscow Botanical Garden
Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Exhibition of achievements of national economy — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva, the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy. The grounds opened in 1939 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition and were renamed several times before settling on VDNKh in 1959.

Around 325 hectares, or roughly 800 acres, in the Ostankinsky District of northern Moscow. The pavilion zone covers about 240 hectares; the rest is given to parks, ponds, and the adjacent botanical garden.

A gilded fountain opened in 1954, ringed by fifteen statues of women in national dress, each representing a Soviet republic. It sits at the end of the central avenue beyond the Central Pavilion.

A full-scale Vostok carrier rocket stands beside the Cosmos Pavilion, which now houses the Cosmonautics and Aviation Centre. The rocket has been on display since 1967 and was restored in 2016.

The first version opened on 1 August 1939. Most pavilions seen today date from the 1954 post-war expansion, when the grounds were rebuilt at a far larger scale under Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky and others.

Vera Mukhina's 25-metre stainless-steel sculpture made for the 1937 Paris International Exposition. It was relocated to the northern edge of VDNKh in 1939 and stands on a tall pedestal beside the Cosmos Pavilion.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for that. VDNKh is the city's open-air memory of a whole century. A Small or Medium in Glossy, with a handwritten studio note, sits well on an entry wall or bookshelf.

The gilded fountains and red-and-cream pavilions suit Maximalist, Jewel-tone, and Eastern European Eclectic rooms. The cooler stone passages also read well in a Mid-century Modern hallway.

A single Large covers most three-seat sofas. For longer sectionals or open walls, a four-tile Mural sets the scene at scale; a nine-tile Mural carries a tall stairwell.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any humid or splashed space. Both are scratch-resistant and the colour lives in the ceramic surface.

Soft microfibre cloth and water. No abrasive sponges, no solvents. The thin glossy finish protects the surface and a quick wipe is enough.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in Reid Wender's studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. We are a single studio and do not license artwork from outside artists.

— if this one stayed with you

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