Cheongdo Stone Ice Storage

Directly opposite Cheongdo Eupseong walled town stands a Joseon-era icehouse, the oldest surviving stone ice store in South Korea. Its roof has collapsed, leaving only four stone arches, so unlike other icehouses you can look straight down into the chamber where the ice was stacked. It was designated a Treasure in 1963.

An icehouse from 1713

A small stele in front of the icehouse is inscribed on both sides with a record of the work. The front says construction began on 11 February and finished on 5 May, that a total of 5,451 person-days of labour went into it, and that it used 1,438 geun of iron and 384 seok of lime. The back says the stele was put up on the sixth day of the fifth month of a gyesa year and lists those in charge, including Park Sang-go, which dates the icehouse to 1713, the 39th year of King Sukjong. Records this detailed about a 300-year-old building project, down to the time, labour and materials, are rare. The icehouse became a Treasure on 21 January 1963.

A structure built to keep ice

Icehouses stored the thickest ice cut in winter so that it could be used in summer. The Cheongdo icehouse runs east–west with its entrance on the west side, and the ice chamber measures roughly 15 m by 5 m (sources give a length of 14.75 m or 14.85 m).

• Four arches: each arch is built from 19 to 21 dressed stones. Long slabs once spanned the gaps between them and were covered with a thick layer of lime and earth to form the roof. That roof and the earth mound above it have gone, leaving just the arches and the floor.
• The deepest chamber: nine steps lead down from the entrance to a floor about 1.9 m below ground, the deepest of any surviving icehouse.
• Drainage and ventilation: the floor slopes by about 5°, with a central channel that carries meltwater out through a hole on the east side into a small stream. Vents in the roof probably let warm air escape.
• Natural-stone walls: where other icehouses have walls of neatly cut long blocks, this one uses fieldstones of every size, probably brought from the Hwaaksan area to the south.

Good to know

Six ice stores survive in South Korea, all of them stone icehouses from the late Joseon period. Cheongdo's is second in size only to Gyeongju's, but it is the oldest. Joseon's system of storing and distributing ice was abolished in 1898. With its roof gone, the icehouse works like a cross-section, showing at a glance how people kept ice cold by digging deep, draining water away and circulating air.

Tripto tips

• Visiting: open all year and free. For safety you cannot enter the chamber, but you can look down into it from the edge. The site is lit at night, so it is worth seeing in the evening too.
• Time needed: 20–30 minutes for the icehouse alone, 1–2 hours if you also walk around Cheongdo Eupseong opposite.
• Getting there: the icehouse is in Hwayang-eup, Cheongdo County. From Cheongdo Station on the Gyeongbu Line take a taxi or county bus to Hwayang-eup; there is also parking.
• When to go: spring and autumn are best for walking. Autumn is also when Cheongdo's seedless bansi persimmons ripen, so the persimmon trees around the walled town add to the view.