EGYPT - STONE CULTURE

Monuments crafted in natural stone stand as witnesses to civili­zations - past and present. Egypt, the land of ancient achievement and modern devel­opment, situated at the crossroads of Asia and Africa, best embodies this. 

As the art of construction is one of the earliest features of civiliza­tion, it is an expression of human life that is as old as culture, virtue and religion. Buildings and monu­ments left behind by the great civ­ilizations have become symbols of the essence of human culture and historical glory. In this sense, mar­ble and granite have served as the most magnificent materials histo­ry was written with. 

It is universally acknowledged that a body of norms and principles are common to all civilizations.  Different mentalities behind the varied civilizations led to diverse expressions of culture, consequently impacting  future lives and generations in a variety of ways.  Again, it was natural stone that, even though not the easiest to handle among building materials, proved a universal medium to bring about amazingly different expressions of humanity’s creative genius. 

The world famous pyramids, tem­ples and obelisks attest to the importance of natural stone to the ancient Egyp­tian civilization. Beheld in awe over three millennia by those who came to see them, in centuries past some of these treasures were taken to grace the capitals of Europe. More recently, their ingenious forms were copied by architects and builders the world over. 

In ancient Egypt, building and con­structing was one of the ruler’s main privileges.  However, the actual pro­cess of locating the right, non-weathering building material, cutting chunks of stone large enough to build with and small enough to be moved, was the everyday work of the slaves. 

Some natural stones found in the deserts of Egypt are not hard, and are fairly easy to cut, whereas others like the granite found in Aswan are among the hardest in the world. To obtain such had stones, the old Egyptians used the technique of cutting and then filling the cuts with wood, sub­sequently pouring water onto the wood causing it to expand and con­sequently cause the block of stone to break loose. The hardship of ac­quiring natural stone, however, was sometimes made easier by one very specific feature of Egypt’s climate, namely the huge temperature differ­ences occurring in some regions. Those extreme changes from heat to cold caused the stone pieces of sev­eral kinds to crack and break. Workers only had to collect them. 

Stone quarries were located very close to the river Nile. When the Pharaoh decided to build a palace or a temple, he usually called upon a whole team of workers and artists with all necessary supplies to finish what ever was ‘commanded by the gods’. The skills mastered by those artisans and passed along over gen­erations were such that even today the actual process of building and moving the obelisks all the way from Heliopolis to Aswan presents itself as a mystery. 

Ethnic mythology and worship of the gods played a more than signifi­cant role in the lives of ancient Egyptians. The art of sculpture, de­veloped over centuries of Pharaonic culture, was one of the major meth­ods of preserving its rich heritage. And, of course, no other material but natural stone marble, granite, diorite and chest - could serve the artisans’ needs in terms of longevity. Stone rendered eternity to the monuments, and lent the old Egyp­tian civilization its undying history. 

In early Islamic times, natural stone was not commonly used, especially on the Arabian peninsula. Mainly, old stones from derelict buildings and monuments were reused. Numerous early mosques and Islamic buildings in Egypt were even erected with stones tak­en from the pyramids. 

As the Islamic civilization blos­somed in later centuries, Arab Ar­chitects came to appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of natural stone. Once introduced to Islamic Architecture, natural stone proved to be more than harmonious with it, and became indispensable for all its forms and manifestations. 

The leading presence of marble and granite in the art of Islamic construction is evident in all its epochs. In modern times, however, the use of marble and granite gained further dimensions of crea­tivity adding to their natural beauty. Marble and granite were considered the main classy build­ing materials. 

Among the features that make natural stone today preferable to other materials today, are its physical and chemical characteristics.  No manufactured and industrial building material offers the same natural, self-protective features, found in natural stone. Concrete and industrial building materials rarely measure up to the beauty of stone. Also climate changes and weather conditions have strong effects upon manufactured materials, resulting in rupture and break­age, and eventually collapse. 

Stone, is the best embodiment of the building of Egyptian civilization and the Islamic culture on the Nile, and remains the undisputed ma­terial of choice in the construc­tion of lasting and aesthetically pleasing buildings in the Egypt of today. 

Several types of stone quarried and used in Egypt, with their characteristics: 

Porous and absorption values for some types of natural stone: