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It is very likely that the quantum description of spacetime is quite different from what we perceive at large scales, l ≫ (G~/c3)1/2. The long wavelength description of spacetime, based on Einstein’s equations, is similar to the description of a continuum solid made of a large number of microscopic degrees of freedom. This paradigm provides a novel interpretation of coordinate transformations as deformations of “spacetime solid” and allows one to obtain Einstein’s equations as a consistency condition in the long wavelength limit. The entropy contributed by the microscopic degrees of freedom reduces to a pure surface contribution when Einstein’s equations are satisfied. The horizons arises as “defects” in the “spacetime solid” (in the sense of well defined singular points) and contributes an entropy which is one quarter of the horizon area. Finally, the response of the microstructure to vacuum energy leads to a near cancellation of the cosmological constant, leaving behind a tiny fluctuation which matches with the observed value. The quantum description of spacetime is likely to be as different from the classical description, as the atomic description of a solid is from the macroscopic continuum description of a solid. The latter uses concepts like density, stress and strain, bulk flow velocity etc., none of which has much relevance in the microscopic scale; the quantum description of molecules in a solid cannot be obtained by quantising the classical macroscopic variables. The entire language (and the variables) need to be different, with the continuum description arising in a specific limit. Similarly, we will expect the variables and the language used in the quantum description of spacetime to be quite different from the description of the spacetime continuum using, say, the metric tensor. Quantisation of the metric has as much relevance — in this paradigm — as quantising, say, the density and bulk flow velocity of a solid with the hope of obtaining a quantum theory of molecules. While the full microscopic theory cannot be obtained without further inputs, this paradigm (“continuum spacetime is like an elastic solid”), taken seriously, brings about a new and powerful perspective regarding the nature of the spacetime.