Yakhchal

A yakh-chal (ىخچال in Persan) is an old natural refrigerator.

This structure in form of half-sunken dome was used most of the time to store ice, but also sometimes to store food.

In the Iran of, the Persan engineers controlled already the technique allowing to store ice in full summer in the desert. The ice was brought surrounding mountains during the winter and was then stored in especially designed and naturally cooled refrigerators, called yakhchal , which means “storage of ice”. This structure was a buried big space (up to 5000 m ³) which had thick walls of at least two meters at the base, made with a special mortar called sarooj , composed of sand, clay, of egg white, lime, hairs of goat and ashes in specific proportions and which was resistant to the transfers of heat. The Iranians also think that the mixture was completely impermeable. This space was often connected to a Qanat and had also often a Badgir (turn with wind) which could easily refresh the temperatures during the days of summer. The stored ice was then used to manufacture coolings for the royal court.

These structures were built and used especially in Iran. Among those which remain today, many which is those were built hundreds of years ago.

See too

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