Wender·Vista
Yaroslavl
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileRussia
on the upper Volga, north-east of Moscow

Yaroslavl

— the city the Volga turns wide for.

— 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 river city where the Volga meets the Kotorosl, about four hours north-east of Moscow on the Golden Ring. The old centre is a tight grid of bell towers and merchant houses, planned under Catherine the Great in 1763 and left mostly intact. In winter the river freezes and the white walls of the Transfiguration Monastery read against snow the way they were meant to.

from the studio
Yaroslavl
— bring it home

Yaroslavl, 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 Yaroslavl

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

Yaroslavl sits on the right bank of the Volga at its confluence with the Kotorosl, about 250 kilometres north-east of Moscow. It was founded in 1010 by Yaroslav the Wise, prince of Rostov, making it one of the oldest cities on the upper Volga. The historic centre was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 as an example of Catherine the Great's 1763 urban-planning reform. Today the city holds about 600,000 people and anchors the Golden Ring of medieval towns north-east of the capital.

— informed by UNESCO, Wikipedia
— the stone

The seventeenth-century churches are the reason most visitors come. The Church of Elijah the Prophet, finished in 1650 by the Skripin merchant brothers, holds a near-complete cycle of frescoes by Gury Nikitin and his Kostroma workshop. The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, where the Igor Tale manuscript was rediscovered in the 1790s, dates in parts to the twelfth century. Red brick and white limestone trim, tiled drums, the green of weathered copper. Every facade is small and exact.

— the visit

The Golden Ring loop most travellers run begins at Sergiev Posad and ends here. Sapsan trains from Moscow take about three and a half hours; the slower elektrichka runs cheaper. The riverfront promenade above the Volga is the city's living room, busy from May through September. Winter daylight is short but the snow flatters the architecture. The monastery and main churches keep museum hours; admission is modest.

— informed by Wikipedia: Golden Ring
— where
Russia · Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Oblast
— position
57.6261° N · 39.8845° 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.
85 km NE
Kostroma
Golden Ring city
55 km SW
Rostov Veliky
Golden Ring town
N
Yaroslavl
Kostroma
Rostov Veliky
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The historic centre was inscribed in 2005 as an exceptional example of the urban-planning reform Catherine the Great enacted in 1763. The radial street grid was overlaid on a dense seventeenth-century church town with most religious architecture preserved.

Yaroslavl was founded in 1010 by Yaroslav the Wise, prince of Rostov, making it one of the oldest cities on the upper Volga. The city marked its millennium in 2010 with restoration work across the historic centre.

The Golden Ring is a loop of historic towns north-east of Moscow, named in the 1960s by journalist Yuri Bychkov. Yaroslavl is the largest stop on the ring, anchoring the eastern arc along the upper Volga.

Built between 1647 and 1650 by the Skripin merchant brothers, it holds one of the most complete seventeenth-century fresco cycles in Russia, painted by Gury Nikitin's Kostroma workshop in 1680 and 1681.

Sapsan trains run from Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station to Yaroslavl Glavny in about three and a half hours. Slower regional elektrichka trains and overnight buses also serve the 250-kilometre route.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for customers with roots on the upper Volga. The bell-tower silhouette reads clearly at Small or Medium, and a handwritten note from the studio carries the gesture.

The cool blues, white limestone, and weathered copper suit a Scandinavian-modern room, a jewel-tone maximalist wall, or a transitional study with dark wood. The piece reads as architecture rather than landscape.

A Large carries a sofa wall on its own. For a longer room a four-tile Mural extends the bell-tower line. Above a console table the Medium sits well; a Small works in a hallway.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for damp or splash-prone walls. The colour stays in the surface and the finish wipes clean without losing its sheen over time.

A soft microfibre cloth and clear water are enough. Skip ammonia and abrasive sprays. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and will not fade with regular cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the single Knoxville studio, curated by Reid Wender. The work is not licensed from outside artists and is hand-finished in-house.

— if this one stayed with you

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