Like firewood and pasture, snow and ice have since time immemorial been economic resources of humankind, whether for the conservation of food and medicines or for the luxury of making sherbets and ice-creams. Pliny the Elder mentioned an active trade of such products in the Mediterranean area and Spain’s King Philip III instituted an office to tax them. Whatever the period and place, these activities and transactions were possible thanks to artificial freezers, underground chambers that became obsolete with the GE patent that led to modern refrigerators.

Twenty-five of those snow wells still exist high in the Murcian mountains and are now officially protected, following a thorough inventory and the devising of a plan to consolidate them. Two have thus been returned to their former glory, including the largest. Besides restoring the original geometry of the domes with traditional materials, a circuit of wooden stairs, catwalks, and balconies gives visitors close-up contact with constructions that were once ordinary and are now extraordinary.[+][+]

Photo: Juan Miguel Galera

Photo: Juan Miguel Galera

Photo: Juan Miguel Galera

Photo: Juan Miguel Galera