Иглу эскимосов

The Eskimo people built different types of dwellings, but the most original one was igloo, which in the Inuit language means “house”. These constructions were typical of the central part of Canadian Arctic. A dome-shaped snow hut was made of snow blocks cut with a special knife. Rectangular blocks, snow bricks in a way, which were up to 50 cm long were tightly adjusted to each other and put in circular layers. Each next layer was shifted a little closer to the center – that is how a spherical dome was built. The junctions between “bricks” were filled with water which immediately turned into ice. One of the builders was standing inside the igloo, while others handed the materials to him. When the construction of an igloo was completed, a stone lamp with seal or deer fat was lit inside. After the inner walls of an igloo began to melt, the lamp was put out, and the inner surface covered with a solid ice layer. In deep snow an entrance corridor was dug out, which in the night was blocked by a massive snow lump to protect the inhabitants of an igloo from polar bears. Inside an igloo snow beds were made and covered with double layers of skins. The ceiling and the walls were covered with deer skins by nailing them with ivory or wooden pegs. Due to the air layer between the skins and the ice, the walls of an igloo did not melt. Igloos were heated with fat lamps. Inside it was warm – even when it was 40 degrees below zero outside, the temperature inside an igloo could reach +20°С, so the inhabitants of such house could take off their fur clothes and sit inside naked.

Igloo construction.                                         USA. Early 20th cent.