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Abarkooh Ice House, Yazd
Abarkooh in Yazd province of Iran, has 4 Adobe Ice Houses which date back to Qajar dynasty. Adobe Ice Houses (Yakhchal) are ancient buildings used to store ice and food throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator in the past.

By 400 b.C., Persian engineers had mastered the technique of storing ice in the middle of summer in the desert. The ice could be brought in during the winters from nearby mountains, but more commonly they had a wall made along an east-west direction close to the yakhchal. In winter, the qanat water or measured amount of water was channelled into the pools to the north side of the wall where it froze during the night. The shadow of the wall made the water freeze more quickly so more ice was produced per winter day. The shade wall surrounding the pool also prevented sunlight from melting the ice. In the morning additional water was added to the pits and in this manner a layered block of ice was built up. After the ice in the pit reached a particular thickness, it was broken into blocks which were transferred to an deep underground ice storage pit covered by a dome which is sometimes conical in shape. The temperature in the ice storage remained low enough to preserve a fair quantity of ice through the winter and until the next winter. This large underground space (up to 5,000 m3) had thick walls (at least two meters at the base) made out of a special mortar called sārooj, composed of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash in specific proportions, and was resistant to heat transfer. This mixture was thought to be completely water impenetrable.

If the Yakhchal has access to a kareez, the underground water distribution system, a badgir cooling system (a system of windcatchers or wind towers) used in conjunction with a kareez can help to cool the interior of the Yakhchal and hereby help to keep the melting of the stored ice to a minimum. The ice was then used to chill treats for royalty during hot summer days.Therefore, Yakhchals consist of five components:

1. Pool 2. Shade wall around the pool 3. Ice storage pit 4. Dome 5. An optional badgir