TEHRAN - Now a tourist destination for modern trippers, the Moayedi ice house was once an adobe pit surmounted by an adobe dome to store ice for the summertime in Kerman.

The ice house is named after a neighborhood of the same name located in a southern Iranian city.

There were several ice houses in Kerman, among which Moayedi ice-house was the most famous one. Other ice houses are destroyed through time.

The water to these ice houses used to be provided by aqueducts located nearby. With the invention of electricity and the construction of big ice-making factories, the life of ice houses reached its end.

Narratives say there used to be a famous aqueduct in the region called Ab-Anbar-e Moayedi that provided water for the Moayedi ice-house and this is where the name is derived from.

Moayedi ice house is about 20 meters tall and used to be a considerably significant urban structure in Kerman, as life was dependent on it to a large extent.

In fact, ice was used in a dish for decorating wealthy people’s food in summer, and some others used it with the beautifully colored seeds of pomegranates.

A typical Yakhchal would rise some 15 meters or so, and on the inside, it would contain vast spaces for storage. The walls are constructed intelligently using special mortar with components such as egg whites and goat hair that provide marvelous insulation and protection from the hot desert sun.

Water was brought to the Yakhchal either by transporting ice directly from nearby mountains or by diverting water from an aqueduct into the Yakhchal via underground water channels called qanats.

Over the past couple of years, tens of abandoned Yakhchals have been restored this time as bizarre destinations for modern trippers.

AM