Query: The Washington Monument is made of rock.

Relevant passages:
Washington Monument <=SEP=> The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington , D.C. , built to commemorate George Washington , once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States . Located almost due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial , the monument , made of marble , granite , and bluestone gneiss , is both the world 's tallest stone structure and the world 's tallest obelisk , standing 554 ft tall according to the National Geodetic Survey ( measured 2013 -- 14 ) or 555 ft tall according to the National Park Service ( measured 1884 ) .  It is the tallest monumental column in the world if all are measured above their pedestrian entrances .   Construction of the monument began in 1848 , and was halted from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funds , a struggle for control over the Washington National Monument Society , and the intervention of the American Civil War . Although the stone structure was completed in 1884 , internal ironwork , the knoll , and other finishing touches were not completed until 1888 . A difference in shading of the marble , visible approximately 150 ft or 27 % up , shows where construction was halted and later resumed with marble from a different source . The original design was by Robert Mills , but he did not include his proposed colonnade due to a lack of funds , proceeding only with a bare obelisk . Despite many proposals to embellish the obelisk , only its original flat top was altered to a pointed marble pyramidion , in 1884 . The cornerstone was laid on July 4 , 1848 ; the first stone was laid atop the unfinished stump on ; the capstone was set on ; the completed monument was dedicated on ; and officially opened . Upon completion , it became the world 's tallest structure , a title previously held by the Cologne Cathedral . The monument held this designation until 1889 , when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris , France .   The monument was damaged during the 2011 Virginia earthquake and Hurricane Irene in the same year and remained closed to the public while the structure was assessed and repaired . After 32 months of repairs , the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall reopened the Washington Monument to visitors on .   As of September 2016 , the monument has been closed indefinitely due to reliability issues with the current elevator system .   On December 2 , 2016 , the National Park Service announced that the monument would be closed until 2019 in order to modernize the elevator . The $ 2 to 3 million project will correct the elevator 's ongoing mechanical , electrical and computer issues , which have shuttered the monument since August 17 . The National Park Service has also requested funding in its FY 2017 President 's Budget Request to construct a permanent screening facility for the Washington Monument . The Washington Monument is expected to re-open to visitors in 2019 .

Granite <=SEP=> Granite ( -LSB- pronˈɡrænᵻt -RSB- ) is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture . Granites can be predominantly white , pink , or gray in color , depending on their mineralogy . The word `` granite '' comes from the Latin granum , a grain , in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock . Strictly speaking , granite is an igneous rock with between 20 % and 60 % quartz by volume , and at least 35 % of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar , although commonly the term `` granite '' is used to refer to a wider range of coarse grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar .   The term `` granitic '' means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of intrusive igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition and origin . These rocks mainly consist of feldspar , quartz , mica , and amphibole minerals , which form an interlocking , somewhat equigranular matrix of feldspar and quartz with scattered darker biotite mica and amphibole ( often hornblende ) peppering the lighter color minerals . Occasionally some individual crystals ( phenocrysts ) are larger than the groundmass , in which case the texture is known as porphyritic . A granitic rock with a porphyritic texture is known as a granite porphyry . Granitoid is a general , descriptive field term for lighter-colored , coarse-grained igneous rocks . Petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids . The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite .   Granite is nearly always massive ( lacking any internal structures ) , hard and tough , and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history , and more recently as a construction stone . The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3 ( 165.4 - 171.7 lb/ft3 ) , its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa , and its viscosity near STP is 3 -- 6 • 1019 Pa · s.   The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is ; it is strongly reduced in the presence of water , down to 650 ° C at a few kBar pressure .   Granite has poor primary permeability , but strong secondary permeability .