National Museum of Natural History

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.

The Smithsonian Institution's natural-history museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It opened to the public in 1910 and houses roughly 146 million specimens, making it the largest natural-history collection of its kind in the world.

Yes. Like nearly all Smithsonian museums, admission is free for every visitor, with no ticket required. The museum is open every day of the year except December 25, and bags are screened at the main entrance on the Mall side.

A 45.52-carat deep blue diamond, last cut in 1812, donated to the Smithsonian by jeweller Harry Winston in 1958. It turns slowly in its case in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals.

Henry, an African bush elephant collected in Angola in 1955 and mounted in the museum's central rotunda in 1959. He weighs about eight tons and stands roughly four metres at the shoulder, and is one of the most photographed objects in the building.

The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils — Deep Time, reopened in 2019 after a five-year renovation. It walks visitors through 3.7 billion years of life on Earth and is anchored by the Wankel Tyrannosaurus rex, on long-term loan from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The current building opened in 1910 as part of the Smithsonian's expansion onto the north side of the National Mall. It was designed by the architecture firm Hornblower & Marshall in a Beaux-Arts style, capped by the green-copper dome that still defines the silhouette.

It often is. For people who grew up in the Washington area or visited on school trips, the green dome and the elephant are early memories. A Medium or Large carries that recognition with quiet weight.

Yes. The museum is the working home of one of the world's largest research collections, so a piece of the building reads as a portrait of the institution itself. A Large above a desk or a Coaster Set for the lab both travel well.

It sits well in library-style studies, in warm-traditional rooms with mahogany and brass, and in collected, eclectic interiors that already feature natural-history prints and specimen jars. The dome silhouette pairs cleanly with deep greens and burnished gold.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large or a four-tile Mural sits in proportion. Above a console, a Medium or a horizontal three-tile arrangement reads cleanly. A nine-tile Mural is built for a full feature wall.

Yes, in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes are scratch-resistant and stand up to the humidity and temperature shifts of a bathroom or a kitchen backsplash. Reserve Glossy for framed wall pieces in drier rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and clean water are enough for everyday care. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath the finish, so it will not lift with cleaning. Skip abrasive pads and acidic kitchen sprays.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated by Reid Wender and produced by our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. We do not license the images and the tiles are hand-finished in-house before they ship.