The Monolith

The Axis

Connecting Heaven and Earth

Architectural forms like our Monoliths have been found down through history and in all parts of the world. In other times such connectives between “heaven” and “earth” were sometimes referred to as the “axi mundi” or axis of the world.

Every Park of Study and Reflection has a monolith that recreates this essential axis and fixes a reference for the time and place in which the Park was built.

Global Forms

Throughout History

Ancient Celts

For the ancient Celts, their symbolic center was a clearing in the forest. For them the oak tree was the way to knowledge.

Nordic Mythology

The great ash tree “Yggdrazil” was the council place of the gods where they determined the fate of mortals.

Ancient Egypt

Obelisks were carved out of a single block of stone. For the Egyptians these monuments symbolized a petrified ray of sun.

The Path Upward

In Africa too the tree is the axis of the world. The baobab trees are altars where offerings are left for the spirits. In other traditions, Stairways always give the feeling of a path for ascending and descending… And the emerald tablet of the ancient alchemists says: “as above, so below.” That was how one could reach the heavens: by climbing a tree, a stairway, a mountain…