Anything made from a single stone block is considered monolithic.
The term monolithic has several meanings. The first meaning mentioned by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary refers to that linked to a monolith .
Something made of stone
A monument made from a single piece of stone is called a monolith. By extension, what is made only of stone is often referred to as monolithic.
Monoliths can be artificial (when they are produced by humans ) or natural (if a large rock is modified by erosion). In the case of artificial monoliths, the man's job is to carve a rock block.
The moais found on Easter Island are an example of monolithic art . Throughout this Chilean territory there are more than nine hundred figures developed by the Rapa Nui people.
Monolithic architecture
When a construction is generated from a block of stone, it is called monolithic architecture . The Pancha Rathas complex, in India , was originated at the end of the 7th century with this technique. This complex is located in the city of Mahabalipuram and is part of the World Heritage Site protected by UNESCO .
It is important to highlight that the condition for a building to be considered part of monolithic architecture is that the work is carried out on a single block of stone. This responds to the etymology of the term itself, whose first lexical component is monos , which in Greek translates as "single, one, isolated." As an architectural element, the prehistoric monolith is the simplest of all , precisely because it does not have more than one piece.
Some buildings that have been built with several parts can also fall into this category, if the material of their structure has been transformed to form large blocks, something very common with concrete. In this case we can talk about monolithic vaults , whose material solidifies in a formwork.
Egyptian obelisks
One of the most prominent examples of monolithic architecture are the ancient Egyptian obelisks . Despite their large size, each of these monuments was carved from a single block of stone. Generally, they were located in pairs in front of the temples, close to the pylons (constructions similar to truncated pyramids, with very thick walls).
Throughout the religious reform carried out by Pharaoh Amenophis IV , the obelisk was believed to be a ray from the Sun god called Aten . The origin of almost all of them was the quarries of Aswan, the southernmost city in Egypt. Currently we have records of more than three dozen complete Egyptian obelisks and one unfinished one, which is located precisely in Aswan.
Wyoming's "Devil's Tower," a natural monolith
As the Roman Empire was dominant, Rome received many of these monolithic products. Later, Egyptian obelisks were taken to other empires; We find an example in Paris, in its Place de la Concorde .
In Egypt, ancient obelisks still remain in Heliopolis, Crocodilepolis, Luxor and Cairo . In addition to the one we found in France, others were sent to different countries, including the United States, Israel, Italy, the United Kingdom and Turkey . Despite being a relatively simple figure, it manages to attract the attention of the public and is even one of the points of interest for tourists .
Other use
In a symbolic sense, what is described as monolithic is that which does not show cracks or fissures , or that is solid and imperturbable . For example: “The coach aspires to create a monolithic team, which rivals cannot easily defeat” , “The opposition is dispersed and the ruling party is monolithic, so it is difficult to imagine a change of government” , “The senator received “a monolithic support after the corruption complaint.”