LEZERANA FRIDGE

The use of snow for preserving food, cooling drinks or for medicinal purposes has been documented since Antiquity (Mesopotamia, Greeks, Romans, Arabs...). In Navarra its use became widespread from the 170th-XNUMXth century with the construction of refrigerators. It is known of the existence of at least XNUMX storage points, about twenty of them have been kept in very good condition or have been partially rebuilt: Olite Castle, Royal Palace of Pamplona, ​​Aras... and in our Merindad Aoiz, Sangüesa stand out. , Yesa and Burgui. Abundant data is known about the latter regarding its construction, maintenance, lease, price of snow, etc.
A LITTLE HISTORY
The Ezkaroz refrigerator was built by the Junta del Valle, responding to the request of the doctor Jovito Gayarre y Machín (Beroki house) who, in 1914, argued its need in that “the application of some
frozen in the form of snow or ice was an irreplaceable therapeutic in febrile illnesses, in cerebral congestion and major trauma, as well as in many others accompanied by pain, hemorrhages... " He reminded the junteros that "in the summer and autumn season, blizzards disappear most of the years, as well as the content contained in the cisterns, costing a triumph to find it in small quantities and in poor condition."
Without a doubt, these cisterns were natural chasms and wells for public use in which snow was stored and preserved without being covered or protected from rain and temperature changes, etc. These places were called LEZEA (sima in Basque) and this is how it appears in the Navarra Charter. This refrigerator was built in the area of ​​Lezerana (Lezarana, popular pronunciation) and perhaps indicates that natural snow deposits or cisterns already existed in the area.
DESCRIPTION
The refrigerator, built of plastered masonry stone, is cylindrical with the roof topped with a half-orange vault. Its more than seven meters high are divided equally between the underground and aerial parts. The latter was not filled and acted as an air chamber to regulate the temperature. The diameter is 3 meters. The access hole was closed with an iron door. Two walls contain the earthen slopes, forming a corridor to the door that originally also supported a solid brick roof in the shape of a barrel vault that extended approximately one meter. The bottom of the well is reached by means of a metal ladder attached vertically to the wall. There is a culvert on the ground to drain the melted snow. Its north orientation, and having the vault and its entire structure covered in earth, protect it from the direct heat of the sun. It was built in 1916 by Pedro Juan Hualde Loperena (Petxán House) for the amount of 1.666 pesetas.
FUNCTIONING
The Valle Board delegated its maintenance to the City Council. Snowfalls were frequent and intense and supplies were easy. Snow collection was done by neighborhood or auzalan. It was transported in wooden crates and placed in the refrigerator, alternating layers of snow with layers of straw. The first layer of snow was isolated from the ground with a truss so that the melted snow would filter down to the drain. It was compacted with the help of tampers, a wooden tool in the shape of a truncated cone. The snow thus packed together formed a block of ice that had to be cut with an axe. Whoever requested snow paid some money for the service, which was carried out under the supervision of the sheriff. The refrigerator was active until the 1940s. A curious application of snow as sun protection cream was told by Cristina Asporosa, from Isaba, to researcher Antxon Agirre: “A mixture was prepared with the water from the first snow that passed through winter with a lot of snow on top, filtering the sun's rays. “That water was mixed with almond oil.”