In ancient times, Iranians used to build structures known as Ice Houses. What for? Well, to a modern person, it could sound weird. But ice used to be a valuable luxury in the past, especially in the desert. So, they built these lovely structures to produce ice in winter and store it until summer. Plus, ice houses made water supplies available for other seasons of the year, as well as for water shortages and possible droughts. As precious architectural treasures that are important in terms of design and materials, ice houses are also historically significant.
As a luxury that only the rich could afford, ice was also a blessing for ice house workers. The value of ice was so much that the Ice House workers received some free ice instead of their wages or in addition to their wages. Plus, the economic value of ice made Ice House owners wealthy. Even, according to some historians, it was the wealthy people who built Ice Houses. The presence of aristocratic mansions next to some Ice Houses supports this theory.
Of course, the ice produced in the Ice Houses was not of the same quality. First-class crystal ice was used for cooling drinks, medium-sized ice was used to keep the food cold, and low-grade ice was used for making ice cream. Another type of ice, ornamental ice, cost a fortune. These red crystal ices were made using pomegranate.
In the past, when there were no modern appliances for ice production, the people of Meybod provided the ice they needed in a place called Ice House. The main parts of this magnificent building are: shading walls, ice pool, ice house tank and dome. A shading wall, which is a wall with great length, thickness and height, prevents the sun from shining on the pool. Due to the location and the way this wall is built, its shadow falls on the pool all days throughout the year.
Ice pool is a shallow pool made of mud to prevent the cold to escape or hot air to enter. The process of ice production took place in the ice pool and finally the produced ice was transferred to the tank. When we enter the Ice House, we see a pit with the depth of 6 meters. There is a 1.5-meter platform around this pit for people to stand. This part is called the ice tank. The next part of this building is the dome. The dome of this Ice House is made of adobe and its height is about 15 meters. The thickness of the dome’s shell is 240 cm at the lowest part of the dome and about 20 cm at the highest part. This dome is a fascinating part in the building.
