Vitoria-Gasteiz medieval almond
— the shape a walled town keeps after eight hundred years.
Not only on a wall.
Vitoria-Gasteiz medieval almond, 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.
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.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“The old quarter of Vitoria-Gasteiz holds an almond shape on the hilltop, the same outline the founders set in 1181. Streets follow the contour, named for the medieval guilds: Cuchillería, Zapatería, Herrería. The Cathedral of Santa María sits at the top, under a long restoration that visitors can walk through in helmet and harness. Below, the new city opens onto the Basque plain.
The place, in three passes.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community and the seat of Álava province, in northern Spain. It sits on a low hill at about 525 metres on the inland Basque plateau, roughly equidistant from Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Logroño. The town was founded in 1181 by Sancho VI of Navarre on the site of an older village called Gasteiz. The medieval quarter — the almendra — keeps the same almond outline today. Population is about 250,000, making it the second-largest city in the Basque Country after Bilbao.
The walled medieval town climbs in concentric streets named for the trades: Herrería for the smiths, Cuchillería for the knife-makers, Zapatería for the cobblers, Pintorería for the painters. At the top stands the Cathedral of Santa María, begun in the late thirteenth century. A structural restoration, open to visitors as Abierto por Obras, has continued since the year 2000 and inspired Ken Follett's novel A World Without End. Fragments of the medieval walls survive along the eastern flank of the hill.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is reached by Renfe trains from Madrid and Bilbao, or by the AP-1 motorway. The Cathedral of Santa María offers guided visits through the ongoing restoration, including helmet-and-harness sections in the triforium and crypt. The Bibat Museum on Cuchillería holds Basque archaeology and a national playing-card collection. The almendra is walkable in about an hour. The Mercado de Abastos on Calle General Álava covers Basque produce, sheep's cheeses, and txakoli; El Portalón, a fifteenth-century inn, still serves Basque country food.
