Fruit Kiln, Vesely Kopec, Pardubicky kraj, Bohemia (CZ), 2013

While dried fruit is still popular today, before refrigeration with was more so, as it was used to hoard food for the winter. I'm not clear on all the specifics of why this was done, of course, given that the winter weather could have provided naturaly refrigeration for fruit, but before the railroads the fruit you harvested in the Fall had to last you until the next harvest, and drying works better for preserving fruit than any refrigeration short of freezing, even today. This building was where they prepared and dried fruit in a kiln.