TEHRAN – Parts of a gigantic traditional Yakhchal (ice storage) in the city of Khalilabad, northeastern Khorasan Razavi province will undergo some rehabilitation works. 

The restoration project involves repairing the walls and flooring area of the conical structure, which have been damaged due to the recent heavy rains, Khalilabad’s tourism chief said on Tuesday. 

The Qajar-era (1789–1925) Yakhchal is one of the city’s icons and holds the potential to become a popular tourist attraction after being fully restored, Mohammad Javad Bolboli explained. 

The project is planned to be implemented in collaboration with the municipality, the official added. 

The historical structure was added to the National Heritage list in 2011.

When there was no electricity, no refrigerators, and no appliances, people kept a huge amount of water next to the high walls of Yakhchal, which cast a shadow that kept the water cool.

The water turned into ice during the wintertime. Then people cut the ice into many portable parts and put them in the ice house and covered the surface of the ice with special local grass.

The structure is built high to minimize the contact of warm air with the ice surface as the warm air floats upwards. The feature of the ice storage was essential to its functioning. 

There were also wells behind the ice storages with a connective canal at the bottom of the ice storage to the wells with a slight slope.

When people piled up the ice, a little amount of water remained under the heap of ice. If the water was not removed it would make the rest of the ice melt. By channeling the water into the well, not only did they prevent the ice stored in the ice house from melting, but also they had cold and tasty water during summer months when the weather went up to 40 degrees Celsius.

ABU/AFM