story identification - Trying to find a book about an extraordinary elevator

I don't know when I read this, probably a long time since I can't remember most of the plot scenes.

Plot details I can remember:

There's an engineer who, I think, wants to create an elevator. I don't know if it's an invention or whatsoever but it's a powerful one.

I can't remember where the elevator will go but I'm confident it'll be a planet - that's why it is powerful.

There's a part where he plans to construct it in a mountain. I think that's where tries to build it but a monk tries to sabotage it.

The antagonist is a monk.

Note: Sorry if I only gave little information. That's all I can remember from that story. Maybe some of you already read it and forgot it too, you can edit this question to add more information. I googled all info I can remember but it doesn't match the same book I'm trying to find.

Answer

That is most likely Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise.

The engineer is Dr Vannevar Morgan, who wants to construct a space elevator, an elevator that stretches out into space. This elevator is made possible through the use of "hyperfilament", a monomolecular wire.

The mountain is on Taprobane, or Sri Lanka. The mountain is home to a monastery, the monks unwilling to move. But in an attempt by an ex-monk to sabotage an experiment, an ancient prophesy is unwittingly fulfilled, causing the monks to leave.

A second story in the background, is the arrival of an alien probe.

Comments

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