Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
What is a yakhchal ?
SHORT ANSWER An ancient refrigerator – but don’t expect it to fit in your kitchen
LONG ANSWER Did ancient civilisations in hot climates ever get to enjoy the benefits of ice? Well, the Persians certainly did thanks to their proto-refrigerator. By 400 BC, modern-day Iran and the surrounding countries of western and central Asia were pockmarked by large domes named yakhchals.
Constructed using a heat-resistant and waterproof material called sarooj (a mixture of clay and lime with ashes, straw, sand, animal hair and egg whites), the yakhchals contained huge underground pits, in which ice was stored all year round.
The domes themselves were designed so that hot air could escape out of a hole at the top, while attached ventilation towers, known as badgirs, allowed cool air to enter at the bottom and expelled any further hot air like a chimney.
The sophisticated designs of the yakhchals thus gave ice – brought down from the mountains or frozen in special channels known as qanat – the ideal conditions for holding its solid state, even in the desert. Persians could, therefore, enjoy their ice, preserve food and make their favourite sorbet-style dish, faloodeh.
Yakhchals were so solidly built that many still stand today – a bit like the pyramids, only cooler.
Who designed the Sydney Opera House?
A Danish architect dreamed of a structure with sails – but construction almost saw it
