Wender·Vista
Sevastopol
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileRussia
on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula, on the Black Sea

Sevastopol

— a deepwater harbour the wars keep returning 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

“A naval port on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula, founded in 1783 around a sheltered deepwater inlet on the Black Sea. The city has been besieged twice, in the Crimean War of 1854 to 1855 and again by the Wehrmacht in 1941 to 1942, and both sieges shaped the streets that were rebuilt afterward. The harbour remains one of the busiest on the Black Sea.

from the studio
Sevastopol
— bring it home

Sevastopol, 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 Sevastopol

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

Sevastopol sits on the southwest tip of the Crimean Peninsula on the north shore of the Black Sea, around a long sheltered inlet that runs about seven kilometres inland from the coast. The city was founded in 1783 by order of Catherine II as the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Chersonesos. Its population is around 510,000. The city's status is internationally disputed; Ukraine and most United Nations members consider it part of Ukraine, while the Russian Federation has administered it since 2014.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the stone

Almost nothing of pre-twentieth-century Sevastopol survived the second siege. Between 1941 and 1942 the Wehrmacht reduced the city centre to rubble, and the postwar rebuilding under Soviet architects gave the city its present cream-and-yellow neoclassical streets, the only major rebuild in the USSR carried out in a single coherent style. The ruins of Chersonesos, the fifth-century-BC Greek colony at the western edge of the modern city, are older than anything else still standing. UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage list in 2013.

— the year

Sevastopol has two memorial anniversaries that the city still keeps. The first commemorates the 349-day siege of 1854 to 1855 during the Crimean War, when Russian forces under Admiral Pavel Nakhimov held the city against British and French armies; Nakhimov is buried in the Vladimir Cathedral on the central hill. The second marks the 250-day siege of 1941 to 1942, when the Soviet defence of Sevastopol held the same ground against the Wehrmacht. Both sieges ended in the city's fall, and both have shaped its identity as a fortified port.

— where
Russia · Sevastopol
— position
44.6166° N · 33.5254° 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.
3 km W
Chersonesos
ancient ruins
3 km E
Malakhov Kurgan
war memorial
7 km E
Inkerman
cave monastery
12 km S
Balaklava
naval port
14 km S
Cape Fiolent
coastal cliffs
N
Sevastopol
Chersonesos
Malakhov Kurgan
Inkerman
Balaklava
Cape Fiolent
— common questions

What people ask.

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

On the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula, on the north shore of the Black Sea. The city sits around a long sheltered harbour about a hundred and forty kilometres south of the Ukrainian mainland and four hundred kilometres south of Kyiv.

In 1783, by order of Catherine II, as the home port of the newly created Russian Black Sea Fleet. The site had been settled for two and a half millennia, including by the ancient Greek colony of Chersonesos founded around 422 BC on the western edge of the modern city.

The harbour is one of the few deepwater, year-round, sheltered ports on the Black Sea, which makes it valuable to any power contesting the region. It withstood a 349-day siege in 1854 to 1855 and a 250-day siege in 1941 to 1942, both ending in the city's fall.

Most United Nations member states recognise the city as part of Ukraine, and Ukrainian law treats it as a city with special status. The Russian Federation has administered it since 2014, following an annexation that the UN General Assembly has declared invalid.

The remains of a Greek colony founded around 422 BC at the western edge of present-day Sevastopol. The site includes a basilica, residential streets and a theatre. UNESCO inscribed Chersonesos and its agricultural surroundings on the World Heritage list in 2013.

— about the piece in your home

Often, yes. Sevastopol carries strong recognition for families with Russian, Ukrainian or wider Black Sea heritage, where the harbour and the sieges are part of cultural memory. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio sits well.

The deep marine, harbour stone and cream-neoclassical palette suits coastal-modern, maritime-library and Eastern European classical interiors. It also lands in studies where the naval-history reference is part of the room.

Above a standard sofa or long console, a single Large reads as the focal piece. For wider walls, a 4-tile Mural fills the field, and a 9-tile Mural carries a long entry wall or staircase landing.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so steam and splashes do not affect it. Glossy is best kept to drier rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth with a little water is all it needs. No abrasive sponges, no ammonia or bleach sprays. The thin glossy finish wipes clean like a tile, because that is what it is.

— if this one stayed with you

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